


Gifted

by Spiegatrix_Lestrange



Category: Reylo - Fandom, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Mutants, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Awkward Flirting, Awkward Sexual Situations, BAMF Leia Organa, Ben Solo tries to keep his shit together, Ben is a problematic Jean Grey, Childhood Trauma, Dark, Eventual Smut, Everyone Has Issues, F/M, Flash-Finn, I Don't Even Know, It's about to get really messy in here, Leia is a tiny Luke Cage, Mild Gore, Oracle-Hux, Phasma AKA our personal Mystique, Please give them some Therapy, Psychological Trauma, Pyro-Poe, Rey Needs A Hug, Rey has issues, Rey is a pure ray of sunshine who can rip your heart out, Rey is basically a cute Wolverine, Teleport-Luke, The Author Regrets Everything, The League of Extraordinary Weirdos, What Have I Done, X-men vibe, You Have Been Warned, armitage hux is quite nice, ben solo has issues, weird powers for everyone
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-07-06 02:06:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 28,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15876261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spiegatrix_Lestrange/pseuds/Spiegatrix_Lestrange
Summary: Since age eleven, Rey Kenobi knew she was different. What she didn’t know was that she wasn’t the only one. When she meets the Skywalkers, Rey enters a world of extraordinary individuals, though none are more extraordinary to her than Ben Solo.





	1. The Girl Who Cannot Die

**Author's Note:**

> So, this came out quite suddenly, but I'm glad I wrote it.
> 
> It was very fun to write, and it's going to be a pretty intense ride. 
> 
> Enjoy!

The first time Rey realized something was totally wrong about her was in fifth grade. It was her second year in the US and she had just changed school for the third time, following her only living relative, Grandfather Kenobi, in one of his many work-related relocations.  
It was quite weird, even for an eleven-year-old, to see a man in his seventies working so hard, but every time she asked him when he was supposed to retire and take her to Disneyworld to celebrate, he replied with a polite smile and always the same words.

“They still need me, Starshine.”

Who “They” were was quite a mystery all by itself. As far as Rey knew, her grandfather worked in social services, but probably there was more to that, or at least so the girl suspected despite her young age.

Anyway, everything went quite well until that awful Monday morning.

Rey didn’t remember much.

The school bus had taken her as always, right on time. Her backpack was particularly heavy that day, and they would have had a math quiz first thing in the morning.

Except they didn’t.

A truck must not have seen the red light, and in seconds Rey’s school bus turned into a tangle of metal, flames, pain, and death. 

Only eight kids survived the crash that day, and Rey was not among them.

The next thing she remembered was waking up in a dark, narrow space, every inch of her small body aching like never before, her young lungs gasping helplessly for air.

What came next was more of an irrational response to the panic. 

Her small hands raised violently, hitting something that seemed like wood covered in fabric and smashing it brutally. 

Dirt filling the small space, taking from her what was left of that precious air.

Her body fighting on its own, digging through the dirt, desperate for a way out. 

Her small hands scratching and grabbing and pushing, oblivious of the pain and the fear as the tips of her ruined finger finally emerged from the ground, reaching for some fresh air. 

It must have been what labor felt like from a newborn’s perspective, and it was terrifying.

As she finally managed to crawl out of there, covered in blood and dirt, breathing loudly, she felt the night air on her skin again and started crying, her lungs full again and her eyes burning.

She remained on the grass like that for a while, just near the hole she had dug to get to safety.

As she finally managed to rise up, her eyes landed on a large, elegant slab of white marble.

 

_Rey Kenobi_  
Died at age eleven  
Beloved daughter and granddaughter 

 

That night Rey cried as never before, and never after.

She was dead.

She had left her poor Grandpa all alone.

She was no more.

The only thing her young mind managed to realize that night was that, if she was no more, the land of the living wasn’t the place for her anymore.

It took time, years of running to realize the truth.

She wasn’t dead, at all, to be exact; she was incapable of dying.

She didn’t die when she was twelve, that time on that highway that Vermont when a truck hit her hard enough to throw her down the bridge into a river.

She didn’t die when she was thirteen and a bunch of drunk jerks set her on fire as she slept on a bench in a park in Detroit.

She didn’t die when she was fifteen and accidentally ate some poisoned food left by some asshole in an alley of Memphis to get rid of the local rat population. That hurt though.

She didn’t die at sixteen when a guy tried to rob her in a dark alley of Phoenix and ripped her belly open with a rusty knife.

And she didn’t die all the other times. Every time she tried to starve herself to death, to jump from a bridge, to throw herself under a train.

Every time the pain of her lonely, scary existence was too much to bare she tried, and yet her body refused to die.

Every time her flesh, bones and even skin regenerate faster than before, and every time she almost died it felt like she was getting stronger.

At age fourteen she was able to lift a motorcycle without particular effort.  
Now, at eighteen, she was able to stop a running car and lift it from the ground if she needed to. Not that she did, of course.

Rey was a monster, after all, she used to tell herself that at least, and monsters must hide if they want to be left alone. They need to be invisible, especially if they can’t die.

If it wasn’t the case the perspective of a lynch mob would have been almost appealing but unfortunately, considering her conditions, that wouldn’t have solved her problem.

After six months in NYC Rey had confirmed her hypothesis: being invisible was easier in crowded places. The more crowded the better.

The local subway was her favorite place to spend the night in, after all, when your body has no particular need for sleeping, you can easily blend in the city that never sleeps.

On one of the many rides from Manhattan to Queens Rey was alone in her subway car when the train stopped.

Weirdly enough someone came in, and they were not the usual drunk stumbling inside or a couple of lost tourists.

A woman in her mid-sixties entered the car. Even if she didn’t look particularly old she was firmly holding a stick in her left hand. Her salt and pepper hair was carefully fashioned in wavy, glossy waver that formed an elaborated chignon in the back of her head. Her tiny frame, she wasn’t taller than five foot one, didn’t seemed particularly strong, but something in her hands, in the pose of her shoulders, in the vague tiredness on her face, made her look  
steady as a brick wall.

Immediately after she entered a particularly tall young man followed. If Rey’s life had been more normal, probably she would have taken her time to give him a more thorough look-over. He wasn’t exactly handsome in a conventional way, but there was an unusual harmony in his sharp features, mixed with soft cheekbones and full lips.  
Probably another girl of Rey’s age would have fantasized about touching those silky raven hair, about various reason to hold on those bulky shoulders, but after all, she wasn’t like any girl of her age.

The two of them, the man dressed in black, the older woman in white, sat down quietly a few seats away, without noticing her, not that Rey expected anything different.

The raid continued as usual for at least ten minutes when the neon lights of the wagon started to flicker.

The young man raised instantly his head from the book he was reading, carefully folding the corner of the page before putting it in his backpack.

“They’re here, mom,” Rey heard him say.

The older woman took a deep breath, without losing her composure.

“How many?” she asked.

Rey gave the two of them a vaguely alarmed look.

The tall guy held his eyes closed for a long moment, his brow furrowed.  
“Ten,” he just replied.

His mother shook her head as she rose up from her seat.

“It’s almost offensive,” She muttered as his son joined her on his feet, “Make sure the girl doesn’t get involved, the last thing we need are casualties.”

 

Rey looked around, and it took her a second to realize that she was _the girl_.

Even if panic was still an automatic response in case of danger she was at this point quite used to it, but something was wrong, very wrong.

As the man moved toward her she realized how actually imposing he was. She had never been particularly thick, especially considering how rarely she used to ate and he seemed even more massive compared to her.

Despite his vaguely intimidating figure, he sounded extremely polite as he spoke to her.

“You want to leave this car,” He said formally, and something in his calm voice sounded deeply commanding. For a moment Rey’s brain registered the need for her to go, a will to leave so intense she could have actually mistaken it for her own, followed by a weird, unpleasant tingle in the back of her head.

She was about to nod and go away when she felt the usual sensation of her regeneration tingle in the same spot, the need to flee suddenly gone.

“What the hell,” she muttered, shaking her head.

As she looked back at the man in front of her, she noticed for the first time his dark eyes. They were incredibly intense, looking at her in concerned surprise.

“Who the hell are you?” he demanded.

Rey was about to give him a pretty annoyed response when the train stopped abruptly. 

One of the glass windows crashed loudly as something that looked like a smoke bomb was thrown in.

As her instinct took the lead she launched herself on her knees to grab the object in mid-air and throw it back where it came from but the smoke bomb never reached her hands.

She couldn’t believe her eyes as she noticed the object floating just above her head, the gas somehow contained by an invisible force. When the girl turned around to look at the man behind her his large hand was open in the bomb’s direction, slightly trembling as a wince of effort appeared on his angular face.

“What the-”

Rey didn’t find the time to swear properly. The smoke bomb found swiftly its way out through the broken glass, moving like it had its own free will, and less than a second later the subway car was filled with the loud noise of many other broken windows.

Numerous figures in black crashed into the train, landing swiftly on the floor covered in broken glass, weapons pointed at the three individuals in the wagon.  
“Take him!” A voice shouted behind one of the gas masks.

“Oh, hell no,” the older woman replied firmly. 

It happened so fast Rey’s eyes barely managed to keep up.

A few gunshots exploded in the woman’s direction but she seemed unaffected as she rose her stick from the ground.

In a movement far too swift and agile for her age she rotated on her feet, the metallic head of her stick hitting three of the masked men right in the knees, making them fall in a single loud stump.

Rey was basically paralyzed, her brain still searching for the correct response to that situation when a pair of strong hands, the woman’s son hands, grabbed her waist unceremoniously, lifting her above his shoulder.

“Let me go!” She protested vehemently as he started striding through the wagon.

For obvious reasons she couldn’t see in the direction they were going, her eyes still glued on the older woman beating the shit out of two of the masked men.

As they kept walking swiftly two of them must have come their way, but Rey only saw them being thrown behind the man’s back like they weighed nothing.

Who the hell were these people?

“We can’t leave her here!” The girl protested, finally finding the will to easily struggle out of the man’s grasp.

“She can take care of herself,” he replied gruffly, fighting to keep her on his shoulder, “You need to get out of here, now.”

His last words came out weirdly muffled behind a groan of pain. He must have been hit by something because his grasp on Rey finally faded.

As her feet touched the ground again her sense was tingling desperately, her hands aching for the fight. 

The bulky man was gasping for air beside her, bent forward to catch his breath after a probable hit by the baton of one of the masked men in front of them. 

Rey felt her blood start boiling, and she knew exactly what would have come next. 

A consequence of her condition was the particularly strong fight or flight response her body had usually in case of danger. As her heart started beating faster, pumping desperately much-needed adrenaline into her system, the girl bared her teeth, and in a second her slender frame jumped on one of the masked man’s, he must have been taken by surprise because he landed in a loud gasp under her on the ground, as her tiny and yet strong hands kept punching him right in the throat.

As a desperate gasp for air announced a probable fracture of his windpipe, Rey raised to her feet, raging hazel eyes looking for a new target. 

The imposing man with the good hair was still on one knee, and yet the masked men seemed to not be able to reach him like an invisible force was holding them back.

Her hand moved before her brain and in a second a couple of them were on the ground, neck broken and only a few involuntary movements left in their dead bodies.

Another one managed to reach for his gun but Rey was already on him, hands on his head as she kept smashing repeatedly his nape to the ground. As he still could he emptied his mag into her belly, getting only a pained scream in return. 

Beyond the vocal response, the girl didn’t seem affected, if not in the mood. 

One final blow against the masked man’s head covered Rey’s face in blood and brought silence in the car.

Ten dead or dying masked men were now on the ground, and when the girl finally managed to calm down enough to raise her head from her last victim, she found the shocked stares of the older woman and his son looking at her in disbelief.

“Who the hell are you?” he asked again, breath ragged and blood coming out of his nose.

Coming to think of it, who were those people? The lady was, well… Bulletproof. She was wearing a considerable number of bullet holes on her fancy white coat but none of them seemed to have hit her considering also the alarming amount of bullets at her feet and the totally nonchalant way of standing up.

The man, well, didn’t seem that unaffected. Even if he had avoided most of the enemies blows he was still breathing heavily, a conspicuous stream of blood dripping down his nose as he stood up precariously.

Rey was about to reply when a sudden unpleasant sensation in her guts made her lips clench.

 _Fuck,_ she hated this part.

This would have hurt quite a lot.

Almost oblivious of the two other people in the wagon the girl lifted what was left of her shirt to take look at her belly. 

She counted easily twelve bullet holes, and _hugh_ , her healing ability was now fully at work, rejecting the bullets and pushing them out of her flesh.

The unpleasant sensation forced a low groan from her lips as the first bullets fell to the floor, covered in blood. 

When all twelve of them were finally out of her the skin started rapidly to cover the holes, and in a few brief moments, there was no sign of them if not for the blood.

Rey took a liberating deep breath, finally free of the pain.

“Holy shit.”

The man’s low voice echoed weirdly in the wagon, getting again Rey’s attention.  
“Ben, language,” his mother reprimanded him, moving calmly toward Rey, she didn’t seem as impressed as his son, yet her eyes, who looked incredibly young and curious on her face, gave her an intent look as the train started moving again as nothing happened.

“Are you alright?” The older woman asked her.

“Yeah...I-” Rey was about to mutter, utterly confused but the woman continued.

“My name is Leia Organa-Solo, this is my son Ben. We don’t mean any harm. Have you got a name?”

“...Rey,” the girl replied numbly.

“Very nice to meet you, Rey,” the woman said politely, offering her a gracious smile. “I hope you realize that we all need to get out of here as soon as possible, my dear.”

Rey nodded slightly, still vaguely confused by the whole situation. Who were those people? The bulletproof woman and… _Did that guy moved the smoke bomb and a few of those masked bastards with his mind?_

She had always considered herself a freak but well, maybe she wasn’t the only freak around.

“Do you need a lift, dear?” Leia offered with the same polite smile.

Rey nodded again. Even if her body rarely needed to sleep the last few moments had been pretty tiring, especially considering that her she had never regenerated twelve bullet wounds at the same time.

She needed to rest, her breath was still heavy and her whole body was screaming for food and slumber now.

Leia touched lightly what looked like an earring but was more probably some kind of communication device.

“Black Leader? This is the General. Locate us. We need a cleaning team and extraction.”

Someone on the other side must have answered, but at this point, Rey wasn’t in the condition to mind, her senses were starting to fade, her eyes struggled to remain open.

“It’s me and the Knight. And a guest,” the older woman continued, but Rey barely got the last words. The last thing she realized before passing out was that a quite strong, imposing arm was grabbing her so that she couldn’t fell.


	2. The Place that doesn't Exist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always my gratitude and love go to the amazing Wilde-World, adorable friend, supportive and efficient beta and Froggy extraordinaire. I'd be nothing without you, hun.

When Rey slowly started waking up she realized with shock that the cozy, warm feeling around her were actually blankets, real blankets, and there was a bed, a real, soft, comfy bed beneath her.

She had almost forgotten that sensation. 

For a moment she felt like a child again, safe and loved in her own bed, before the crash, before the grave, before everything.

As she comes to her senses properly she shook away the feeling of coziness and woke up with a start. 

She was in bed, a bed she didn’t know, in a place, she didn’t know.

As she raised from the blankets, eyes wide as she looked around she recognized almost immediately the imposing figure in front of her.

The man named Ben wasn’t exactly in his best shape, but he looked definitely better considering how he looked after the fight on the train.

Every sign of blood had been cleaned away from his face and his hair, and if not for a vaguely unhealthy pale complexion and some dark circles around his deep brown eyes he looked like nothing that dangerous had happened to him. To them, to be precise.

“How do you feel?” his voice was low and quiet.

“Where am I?” she replied almost harshly.

“You’re in a facility made to take care, protect and support people like us.”

The calmness of his voice made her even more confused, slightly irritated also.

“Is this some kind of prison?” Rey hissed.

“On the contrary,” Ben replied, “This is a place for us to be free.”

“Us? I don’t even know what that’s supposed to mean.”

“We’re people with capacities that go beyond the ordinary, Rey, I think you already know that.”

The girl looked down almost in shame. She had never called what she had a _capacity_ , more like a curse, a sign of her being a monster.

“This means that there are others like me,” she murmured, but there was no sign of relief in her voice.

“Not exactly like you, but with different gifts for sure. Everyone is different, and the repetition of a gift is quite rare. It all depends on genes, Even if people may be similar to their relatives rarely two people will look exactly the same.”

Rey took her second deep breath. This was already quite weird by itself considering that she almost forgot to breathe sometimes.

“That makes no sense.”

“And what do you tell yourself exactly when you ask yourself what you are?” he asked, his tone was vaguely patronizing as he looked at her with raised eyebrows. Rey didn’t like it, at all.

“When you live your life like you live mine, there’s no point in asking yourself things like that,” the girl replied sharply.

“And what is this supposed to mean?”

“That I died so many times, Ben,” she explained forcing herself to be calm, “I’m just waiting for the right one.”

The revelation dragged the small room into a quite uncomfortable silence.

That gave Rey the time to give a proper look at her host.

Ben was probably at the beginning of his thirties or slightly younger, and despite his solid figure, his big hands looked a little too restless, his fingers fidgeting nervously on his knee.

That looked like a gesture Rey would have expected more in a teenager than in a grown man, especially a grown man who tried to look so in control.

His hair well groomed and the almost total absence of five o’clock shadows on his smooth face told her about a man who took good care of himself, maybe even a little too much. Even his closed were well ironed, they were ordinary but freshly washed with very few wrinkles.

In other words, everything in his figure screamed his need of control, except for his eyes, and his lips. His lips were full and expressive, an occasional involuntary wince popping up from time to time to show his uneasiness.

His eyes were a whole other story. They were dark and deep, and so overwhelmingly sad, but they didn’t look at her in pity. Whatever the man had been through the sadness was still there, buried deep within is stare, no matter where he looked.

The man took a deep breath, determined to regain control over the conversation.

“Do you mind if I ask you a few personal questions?”

Rey arched an eyebrow, giving him a quite perplexed look.

“I don’t even consider myself a person,” she replied blankly.

Ben shifted uncomfortably on his chair.

“May I?” he insisted, clearing his throat.

“Sure,” she shrugged her shoulders.

“How old are you?”

“I was supposed to turn nineteen this April,” her words were candid and calm, and yet her way of speaking of herself made him even more uncomfortable.

“Since when you-”

“When did I die for the first time?” she asked slowly, spelling firmly every word.

He swallowed, and then just nodded.

“I was eleven.”

The room went silent again as he pursed his lips nervously, desperately searching for something to say.

“It was your first time? I mean, the whole killing thing…” Ben muttered hesitantly.

She shook her head.

“And you like it?”

She shook her head again, biting her lower lip.

On the other hand Ben looked almost relieved.

“You move stuff with your mind, don’t you?” Rey found herself asking. Not that she particularly cared, but something in that silence was becoming quite unpleasant. It took her a moment to realize that she didn’t like Ben being uncomfortable.

_What a strange feeling._

The man nodded.

“Among other things.”

She gave him a genuinely curious look, probably her first curious look in almost a decade.

“Like what?”

“Like mind reading.”

Her whole body tensed for some reason.

“Are you serious?”

“Yup.” He seemed incredibly young as he spoke, and he was nervous, she can tell. Probably Ben’s condition has been pretty hard to accept too. There was no reason to make him uncomfortable. Rey didn’t want to she realized more clearly.

“Have you read my mind?”

“No,” he shook his head, “My ability works by altering or interpreting neuro-electrical impulses in other people’s brains. At least in theory. Probably your peculiar capacity of regenerations interferes with that.”

Rey bit her lower lip, _was this… Embarrassment? How weird_

“I haven’t finished fifth grade so…” she murmured.

“Oh, sorry,” his voice came out slightly high pitched as he cleared his throat again, “I mean no, I didn’t read your mind.”

“Got it,” she just nodded, giving him a side glance. Before the uncomfortable silence could come back Rey spoke again.

“Does it hurt?” he asked in a breath, nodding to her recently wounded and yet now perfectly healthy abdomen.  
“Every time,” she murmured, looking away. Many times she had honestly thought that pain would have driven her totally insane and yet…

“Does it hurt?” She asked too, “Using your mind like that, I mean.”

“In a sense, yes,” Ben admitted.

“And… There are others I mean… Like us?” 

“Sure. More than you think.” 

A humorless smirk fought to appear on Rey’s lips. That was quite an understatement considering that, until a few hours ago, she actually believed she was the _only damn freak_ on the planet. 

“Are they all in here? In this...Place, wherever we are?”

Ben shook his head.

“No, of course not. But a few of them are here. Some are here to get help, others to help.”

“This sounds like rehab,” Rey muttered.

“For some of us what you said is very real, Rey,” He admitted with the hint of a smile, “For many of us living in the real world might be difficult, you know this very well. This place is our sanctuary, a place where to find balance and safety, a place to center ourselves.”

Rey didn’t know what was wrong with her. Something in what Ben said, or in how he said it, gave her the same warm, cozy feeling she had in her nest of blankets only moments ago.

And like all that situation wasn’t weird enough the one with Ben was probably her longest conversation in years and the first… _Oh, well, maybe it was that._

Ben’s shy, brief smile was the first smile she could remember since her grandfather.

It wasn’t a particularly beautiful smile, it wasn’t like those perfect smiles in the commercials and yet was real, incredibly real, and it was for her.

_Gosh, that was weird._

Totally unable to respond properly to the new, weird interaction, Rey cleared her throat.

“Can I take a look around?”

Ben nodded, raising on his feet. 

For a moment she had almost forgotten how tall and broad he was.

“Sure, I can show you around if you want.”

 

***

Rey was still barefoot as she followed quietly Ben out of her room.   
As they walked through the long corridors the girl realized how ancient actually that place was.

It must have been built at least in the eighteenth century and clearly must have been some kind of ancestral home according to the ridiculous amount of oil-painted portraits on the wall. 

Even as a lot of questions came up in Rey’s head, she said nothing, instead, she looked cautiously around.

After all, even if she would have asked, she had no way to know if Ben might have told the truth. He was the mind reader, not her. 

Observing, in her personal experience, was a far more efficient method of knowing than talking. 

Not that she was exactly a chatterbox.

They finally entered a large, luminous hall.

The elegant room ended on one of her long sides with a graceful, elaborated art nouveau glass door, offering a graceful view of the garden.

The word _garden_ was a little reductive to be fair. That was a proper park, with three rows, lanes and fountains.

And people.

Three people at the moment, to be precise.

Rey’s brow furrowed in sudden, unexpected curiosity as she moved a couple of steps toward the window.

Two men and a particularly tall, blond woman were in the middle of the garden, a couple of steps away from each other, each of them in a pose that was hard to misinterpret: that was a combat training session.

The three nodded at each other and Rey couldn’t believe her eyes.

One of the two men, young and dark-skinned, almost disappeared.

Well, not exactly disappeared, Rey realized after a couple of seconds, he was just _fast_ , fast enough to make it hard for the human eye to catch him.

The fast guy must have hit the tall woman in the shoulder because she was moving backward, rolling precisely on her back to get back up almost instantly in a graceful, swift movement.

She extended one arm firmly and it must have been unexpected because the fast guy’s run was interrupted by it and he fell on his backside to the ground with a low cough.

At that point the third one, a definitely good looking tan-skinned man with wavy hair, extracted from his pocket something small and metallic.

_was that a… Lighter?_

In a second the small flame generated by the tiny object became huge under the man’s touch, ending like a proper fireball between the other two, forcing them to swiftly jump away to avoid it.

Rey gasped in surprise, her hand covering her mouth in disbelief.

As the three guys in the garden kept fighting she distinctly felt a lump growing in her chest, and for the first time in many years, she could feel the overwhelming sensation of tears tingling behind her eyes.

_she was not the only one._

Maybe she was still a freak, but at least… _at least…_

“See?” Ben’s voice was calm and warm beside her, “You’re not alone.”

 

***

Leia Organa-Solo’s study was definitely ladylike, with fresh white flowers in elegant vases and gracious furniture.

The only thing that didn’t seem to mingle with the general style of the room was the weirdy considerable amount of weapons hanging on perfectly polished, fancy racks on every free wall.

Most of them were tools of the trade of her adventurous youth, others were still in use today, especially her loyal stick.

Sitting comfortably at her desk in her fluffy white slippers despite her formal white pantsuit, she was working on her posh laptop when she felt something like a sudden air pocket behind her moving her hair, the white roses in the near vase and a couple of papers beside her.

She didn’t look away from the screen, fixing the glasses on her nose.

“Hey little brother,” she just murmured.

Behind her, where no one was before, was standing the figure of a man in his mid-sixties, just like her, scruffy beard, unkempt gray hair and an amused glint into his vivid blue eyes.

“You’re only ten minutes older than me, Leia,” he replied with a smirk.

“You’re the little brother nevertheless, Luke.”

Another sudden jolt of wind and the man appeared a few meters away, beside the window. 

Leia was still unimpressed.

Luke took a casual look outside as he spoke.

“How’s everything going, by the way?”

“As usual,” his sister huffed, “Snoke is still after Ben, and probably he wants back also the other two.”  
“Did he attacked him again?”

“He sent some minions of some sort… Nothing major but…”

Leia hesitated at that point, like she was elaborating something.

“Well, there’s a thing that might be interesting, actually.”

Luke gave her just a curious look.

“We found a girl during the attack. A homeless, poor thing… She is one of us and her capacity is quite unheard of.”

The man raised her eyebrows.

“She regenerated twelve bullet holes in less than five minutes under my eyes.”

“Impressive.”

“Impressive indeed. But this is not the best part. She said that her name is Rey.”

 

Luke’s expression shifted in evident surprise, his mouth opened hesitantly.

“Do you think she is…?”

“We know how these things might work, Luke. Usually, the abilities appear randomly, but there has been proved that, in case of familiarity, some people might develop powers who are already in their family tree, with some variations of course.”

“That girl died when she was ten, Leia.”

“How many people do we know with the power of healing, Luke?”

He took a deep breath, nodding slowly.

“Only old Ben.”

“Precisely,” Leia closed her laptop, giving her brother a determined look “And do you still remember the little girl’s name? This cannot be a coincidence.”

“I also remember what was left of her back then. Old Ben tried to save her but after the crash… There wasn’t enough of her left to heal. That broke his heart. And what happened to that grave… We thought Snoke was responsible for the disappearance of her body.”

“Maybe old Ben’s ability was stopped by her own,” Leia suggested, shrugging her shoulders “Not even my son’s powers seem to work on her.”

Luke took a deep breath, and after a long moment of silence, he spoke again.

“We need to be certain first. I’m not going to give old Ben false hope.”

“Of course,” his sister nodded cautiously, “we’ll investigate properly.”


	3. The League of Extraordinary Outcasts

On her second day in Skywalker Manor, Rey weirdly realized that she actually loved food.

Even if she could barely remember the last time she ate before arriving, there was something in that food that made it taste incredible. 

Probably it was that she didn’t need to fight to have it, the fact that someone prepared it for her, she really didn’t know, but all of a sudden eating was her favorite thing in the world.

She was sitting on one of the couches in the main hall when the imposing figure of Ben marched in, as she was enjoying a generous portion of chocolate pudding.

Rey arched her brow as she noticed Ben walking toward her with a determined, unusual expression on his face and without even saying hi.

As he reached for the couch he extended one of his large hands, grabbing the pudding from her hold.

“Hey!” Rey protested, but before she could add anything else he was sitting on the couch in front of her, taking a full spoon of her dessert in his mouth and humming viciously in response.

“What the-”  
The girl scoffed, but she stopped herself from protesting when she noticed something really weird: Ben was giving her a deeply amused look with his striking, ice-blue eyes. 

_Since when did Ben have blue eyes?_

The man gave her a suggestive wink before taking another spoon of pudding. As he handed it back to Rey the girl noticed that the fingers coming closer were somehow changing, shifting, gaining a more feminine shape.

As she looked back at him, a big surprise was waiting for her. Instead of Ben, there was a woman. An Amazonian blond woman, tall as Ben for sure, but certainly not Ben.

“Hello there,” Her voice sounded smooth and polite behind her mischievous smile, “you must be the new girl.”

That woman had just changed her looks right in front of her. One minute she was Ben, the other… _What the fuck?!_

“Holy fuck,” Rey only uttered, eyes wide.

“Nice to meet you too, my name is Phasma,” the blonde woman gave her an amused smirk.

“Sorry I-I didn’t expect that,” the girl admitted swallowing thickly.

“Nobody does, sweetheart,” Phasma assured her, an amused glint still in her ice blue eyes “it’s okay. Shape-shifting can be shocking at first.”

“I’m Rey anyway,” she cleared her throat, still slightly embarrassed. _What a strange, unexpected feeling_ “Nice to meet you.”

“So, Rey,” The Amazonian blonde rolled the _R_ in her name playfully, offering her a wide smile, “How is it going? Do you like here? Is Ben being the pain in the ass he usually is?”

Rey avoided intentionally the first two questions, she wasn’t in a rush to judge the place anyway, except for the food, of course. _Damn, eating was awesome. Oh, yeah, the pudding._

“Ben is alright,” she said shrugging her shoulder as she took as poon of pudding.

Phasma’s elegant eyebrows raised curiously.

“Alright.” the blonde repeated.

Rey just nodded, shrugging again.

“Mh,” Phasma looked actually surprised, “anyway, have you met the gang already?”

“The gang?” the girl replied in evident confusion “What gang?”

The blonde jumped up from the couch, clapping her hands in excitement.

“Follow me! You really need to meet the others.”

 

***

 

The others seem, well, _excited_ to meet her. Or at least they looked so, but maybe it was just her.

After all, Rey wasn’t exactly used to happiness, and those guys seemed just… _So happy!_ It almost made her uncomfortable to see those strangers so at ease and relaxed around her.

When Phasma introduced her as _the new girl_ , not the monster, not the freak, it felt very weird.

Not that the guys were bad, maybe… Maybe she wasn’t ready to acknowledge herself as a human. A human who needed connections, the company even.

Rey was just awful with social interactions, after all, she was ten the last time she had a friend, and he died in that damn crash next to her. She even struggled to remember his name at that point, probably because remembering was too painful and scary.

Anyway, the guys were alright, she supposed, and even if they looked all shiny and happy right now she soon realized that each of them had their ration of shit in life.

When he was four, in a village in rural Guatemala a gang tried to burn Poe alive with all his family in his grandmother’s house, in retaliation for some failed deal with the local drug-lord. He survived, but he was the only one. The day after Leia arrived to take him to Skywalker Manor.

Finn risked to become a child-soldier in Nigeria when he was just eight, but luckily he managed to escape and Luke, Leia’s brother, found him.

Paige and Rose Tico looked absolutely adorable and healthy now, but they almost starved to death in an almost forgotten corner of Vietnam before Leia came. Their family was forced to abandon them in the forest as soon as they realized there was something not normal about them. Her parents tried to keep them but the village chief punished them with death.

Phasma, well… Phasma wasn’t particularly eager to share, but Rey didn’t mind, it gave her the excuse to not share herself.

“Anyway,” Poe started after a while, giving Rey a curious look. He was distracted playing with his lighter as he spoke “I hope you don’t mind if I ask but… What can you do?”

Rey hesitated, beating her lower lip. 

“I...I can’t die,” she just murmured.

No one among the others apparently found something to say, Poe and Finn exchanged a quite surprised glance.

“You mean…”

“Can I borrow that?” Rey asked, nodding toward Poe’s lighter.

The man gave her a perplexed look but said nothing as he handed her the small metal object.

Looking like someone without a care in the world Rey fidgeted the lighter in her left hand for a couple of seconds before turning it on. Then, like it was the most normal thing in the universe, she landed firmly her hand on the flame.

A quite predictable chorus of squeals and gasps followed her gesture, but Rey didn’t mind, leaving her hand right where it was, only a wince of dull pain changing her expression. 

As she finally decided that it was enough, she handed the lighter back to Poe, rising her other hand, evidently burned.

The familiar tingle started right away, and in a few seconds Poe, Phasma, Page, Rose, and Finn were looking with wide eyes and slack mouths at her skin growing back like nothing happened.

“Holy shit,” Phasma just murmured.

“That’s…” Poe hesitated briefly, realizing just a second later the vague fear in Rey’s eyes. They all knew that fear quite too well. The fear of rejection, of being considered a monster, his whole face lightened up with a wide smile “...Awesome!”

 

“So cool!” Finn agreed instantly. 

“Oh, my god!” Paige squealed in excitement, “You’re Incredible! Can you regenerate also more serious wounds?”

“Well, yes,” Rey replied almost casually. For some reason, a part of her wanted to smile in relief now, “I got shot twelve times two days ago.”

“Holy Mother of Mutants!” Rose squealed in disbelief.

“Rey,” Paige cleared her throat, trying to regain her composure despite the general excitement, “I don’t mean to push you but, I’m a doctor. Can I have a sample of your blood and maybe do a brief check-up? Pleasepleaseplease!!!”

 

She looked so adorable despite the quite weird request. Rey furrowed her brow.  
“Am I going to be some kind of lab rat?” she asked.

“Of course not!” Paige reassured her, “Not in a million years! It’s just. Maybe your blood can teach us to save lives, defeat illness, we can learn so much, Rey…”

The young girl took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment.

“Fine, then,” she nodded.

***

“Holy fuck,” Paige murmured, her astonished glare still fixed on the lens of the microscope. 

Rey was still sitting on the small hospital bed in the older Tico’s lab, her eyes on the floor.

“Paige, my dear, language,” Leia’s calm voice reprimanded her as the woman strode inside in another perfect white outfit.

Paige didn’t reply, barely raising her head from the microscope with an ecstatic smile on her face.

“Leia, this is amazing, Rey is amazing!” she just said, “Her blood is… I don’t even know what to say! I’ve never seen something like that. Possibilities are endless!”

Leia gave her a composed smile.

“The last time I saw Paige so excited was when she decoded her first line of DNA when she was twelve,” the older woman seemed almost amused, “You really must be some kind of work of art, my dear Rey.”

Rey cleared her throat, almost embarrassed by all that attention.

Fortunately, Phasma rushed, saving her from the burden of finding a proper response, the blonde’s face though was far too serious, even alarmed.

“Leia, everyone,” she called, her voice was tense, “You need to come to the main hall, now!”

In a second they all were rushing through the corridors. As the finally arrived a small crowd was already gathered around the tv.

“After one of the smoothest primary election in the history of the United States, the last minute candidate Tiberius Snoke won. He will represent the Republican in the race for the seat of Governor in the state of New York.”

The voice of the journalist was the only sound in the room for quite a long time. Rey wasn’t exactly a talent at reading human emotions but she knew what she was looking at very well. Fear, anxiety on every face in the room.

Even Ben was there. His bulky figure, no matter how imposing he was, looked almost small while he crouched, arms crossed on his chest and something that resembled true horror on his face.

“Snoke, a well-respected veteran with a history of successful strategy in the last four conflicts and an impressive resumeè of purple hearts, survived a terrorist attack three years ago,” the speaker said, stealing a series of outraged comments.

“Terrorist attack my ass!” Phasma hissed, weirdly Leia had nothing to say about the swearing, her eyes were fixed on his son.

A slim, red-haired man that Rey didn’t know yet slammed a bony fist on the armrest of his chair.  
“Dammit,” he murmured, “If only-”

“There’s no point in blaming yourself, Armitage,” Leia addressed him firmly, “there’s nothing you could have done. There’s nothing none of you could have done to prevent this.” She spelled with even more determination.

“Considering his personal history is quite easy to imagine that his eventual victory will mean the implementation or even more strict anti-terrorism measures, more funds to law enforcement and homeland security in the state of New York, and a more extensive controls among the population and on the internet.”

“He’s trying to find a way to expose us,” Poe snarled, clearly disgusted.

“Until the election next spring, Snoke will lead personally a robust campaign through all the major cities in the state,” the journalist continued “assuring that his first interest will be meeting as many people as possible to make sure to develop a much-needed conversation between citizens and institutions.”

At that exact moment, one of the gracious, elegant vases in the middle of the huge dining table de facto exploded in a million pieces as if it was hit by an invisible force that even Rey now was able to recognize.

Her eyes, like many others in the room, landed on Ben.

His big hands were openly shaking, his dark eyes were lost somewhere in front of him as is tense fought against the fury that wanted to show up.

“Hey, Benny,” Phasma moved closer to him, and everything about her was cautious, she looked like someone who was deliberately walking on eggshells. She landed slowly a hand on his upper arm, “I’d really love a walk in the park. Want to come with me?”

Ben inhaled sharply, but then he just nodded, following her slowly.

“Very well, ladies and gentlemen,” Leia started as they both left, “We all know what this means. We’re in code orange. Low profile at any cost. We need to elaborate a strategy, but to do that we need more data. Until we decide how to acquire the data we need I recommend caution. Leave the building only if you really need to. I’ll keep you informed on any development.”

As Leia too walked away the room started to empty, but Rey just stood there, biting her lip as she elaborated what just happened.

They all must have had quite a history with this Snoke, but what happened? A part of her, for some reason, wanted to know more.

Someone cleared his throat, and Rey raised her eyes from the floor. They met almost instantly a pair of green ones looking at her intently.

The red-haired man was giving her a polite smile as he remained on his chair.

“I’m glad this is that future,” he started blankly.

“Excuse me?”

“I’m glad this is the future in which you remain here to think about what to do so that we can talk a little.”

Rey gave him a quite confused look, tilting her head.

“Do I know you?”

“Now you do. I’m Armitage Hux. Most of the others here call me just Armitage, mostly because my father is a person no one would like to share his last name with. Unfortunately, in almost half of the possible futures, he will not get that easily what he deserves but well, in the other half… Fingers crossed.”

“O-ok,” Rey tilted her head even more, “I’m-”

“Rey, eighteen years old, nineteen on the tenth of April, daughter of Sabine Wren and Milien Kryze, no siblings. Complete name: Rey Satine Hera Kryze. Satine after your grandmother on your father’s side, Hera after your mother’s commander in the army, who saved her life in Bosnia in 1994. Do you need me to go on? I’d rather stop before things get…” Armitage cleared his throat, “...too unpleasant. In three-quarters of the possible futures you punch me in the face in the case I keep speaking, in the half of the remaining futures what I just said is more than enough to get my ass kicked so…”

Rey was stunned, to say the least. Hearing all those names again, after all that time was something she never expected. Her breath ached for a second in her lungs, her hands have turned into fists without her even noticing. She inhaled deeply and slowly, giving to the red-haired man an annoyed and yet alarmed look.

“You’re some kind of-”

“Seer? In a way. My capacities allow me to get a clear view of the past of the person I’m talking to and gives me the chance to take a look at all the possible futures said person might face.”

“You know, interrupting people is quite-”

“Rude, I know, I’m sorry,” he gave her an apologetic smile, “Comes with the job, or with the gift, most of the times the two things collide. I can’t help it.”

“Well, try harder,” Rey huffed in a wince, “There’s something else we need to discuss?”

“The Snoke thing is going to be a big deal,” Armitage explained, ”I cannot be sure about he’s going to mess things up, but he will. He always does.”

“You can’t?” Rey’s brow furrowed in evident confusion, “You just said-”

“That I can read any possible future? Yup, except Snoke’s.”

“Why?”

“Well…” The redhead hesitated slightly, clearing his throat, “We have history with him, me, Phas and Ben I mean. We were forced to work for him for many years. He… He is like us, but his capacity allows him to control people. If he orders something to you, you’ll just do it, no matter how horrible, no matter if it’s going to hurt yourself or someone else. After the order you can just do what he says, you’re just another tool in his pocket.”

“This means that when he’ll ask all those people to vote for him-”

“They will. There’s no escape. This is why I can’t see his future.” Armitage took a deep breath, looking away for just a moment, “He ordered me not to, many years ago.”

Rey just nodded, her eyes fixed on him.

“And how do you know that he’s going to mess things up?”

“Each and every time that I tried to look at any possible future of any person in this house, even you, my vision shifts, and I’m forced to look away,” he explained, “And Snoke is the only individual on this planet that might cause this. I can only take a look at the consequences of what will happen, and an overwhelming amount of them are… A nightmare.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Rey murmured, almost holding her breath.

“Because in the very few happy endings ahead of us you’re always the one who saves the day, Rey.”

The revelation hit her like ton of bricks. She remembered quite well the sensation of gasping for air, and the heaviness in her chest muchly resembled that kind of feeling.

“O-okay,” she babbled, even more stunned than before.

“Are you alright?” Armitage asked politely.

She just nodded.

“Yes, go on.”

“I need to tell you one more thing, and it’s going to be hard to hear but I think you deserve to know. In one of these possible futures, only one of them,” Armitage clenched his lips, his glare inscrutable. “You’re going to die.”

Even if Rey had always considered herself a woman on her quest to take her final breath, her brain struggled to understand what the man said for a few long seconds. Shock hit her, and suddenly her breaths were quick and panicked. 

“Thank you, I-I guess,” she stuttered, jumping on her feet, “I need to go.”

She was storming out of the room when Armitage spoke again.  
“Oh, and sorry for tonight’s nightmare. It will probably get messy,” he said.

She stopped her steps, still without turning back.

“I don’t sleep,” She replied nervously.

“I wasn’t talking about you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my amazing beta Wilde-World. Thanks, darling!
> 
> And now, a few more notes:
> 
> Sensitive stuff first: I get that putting Snoke in a really existent political party might be a little triggering, so let me explain my choice:  
> I'm not American, I'm Italian so my perception of US politics will be different for sure, and probably slightly distorted. My choice is not a political statement, just a way to fit my narration in a more realistic context.
> 
> It doesn't mean that I think that every affiliate or voter to the said political party is as evil as Snoke of course, but I can't picture in my head Snoke embracing determinate ideals, even just for a façade. 
> 
> Anyway, that was not a statement, just a choice to make this story go on smoothly.
> 
>  
> 
> As for the powers, I assure you that they're not sorted randomly. It makes sense to me in a weird way, and every choice has been taken carefully :) If you want to know more about this, just ask :D :D :D 
> 
> Feel free to comment and share your opinion below, in the meantime allow me to thank all of those who showed their appreciation and their enthusiasm on this story. I'm having a lot of fun writing it and I really love to share it with you! Thank you so much for reading!


	4. And so her watch begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A special thanks to two adorable creatures, Sage McMae and Wilde-World, for helping me by being the most amazing betas ever <3

That night, probably to lift spirits, some kind soul at Skywalk Manor baked a cake. 

The kind soul, probably Finn, must have taken his goal of cheering people up pretty seriously because on top of the adorably sweet caramel cheesecake an alarming amount of sprinkles had found their home. 

Rey didn’t know if they were expected to be there, but the sprinkles were a surefire way to make the cake more festive.

Everyone else had been asleep for at least two hours when Rey claimed her fourth slice from the fridge and walked back to her room.

Since she had no need for sleep, Rey had spent the previous two nights reading an old novel she had discovered in the main hall. It wasn't particularly interesting and the content wasn't too deep. At least, that's what she thought. Perhaps given her past, she wasn't soft-hearted enough to understand the book's charm. 

Instead, she was understanding the charm of the cake pretty well when something weird happened at the edge of her field of vision.

On the near wall, something fell from the bookshelf. Just a box, a small wooden box that landed on the ground with a thud. 

Rey was about to stand up when she saw another object falling, this time a tiny bronze statue.

After that was the turn of a book, then another, then another. 

She gave the whole bookshelf an alarmed look which only got more worried as soon as a low rumble spread across the wall, making all the furniture tremble as if they were experiencing an earthquake.

The small lamp on her desk fell to the ground falling into pieces, even the windows started to vibrate.

For a long moment, the whole house seemed to tremble, and Rey would have thought that it was, in fact, an earthquake, had it not been for the odd amount of dropped objects that, all of a sudden, lifted from the ground, floating in mid-air.

_Nope, definitely not an earthquake, but what the… Ben!_

 

Her body decided before her mind, and in a second she was in the corridor.

Ben’s room was next to hers, and without even thinking she entered without knocking, the windows and even walls now trembling around her as she did.

Her mouth went slack as she saw what was going on.

The massive, unconscious figure of Ben was floating five feet above his bed, limbs outstretched and face twisted in fear and pain as he kept sleeping.

All around him what looked like a tornado of invisible energy was smashing all kinds of objects around the room, throwing papers, clothes and other belongings in every direction.

“Ben!” the girl shouted, but the overwhelming noise in the room drowned out her voice.

“Ben!” Rey tried again, louder, and a sudden burst of energy almost made her fall to the ground.

Apparently the situation needed a more _brutal_ approach.

No one had taught Rey about being ladylike in her wandering years. She vaguely remembered her grandfather talking about not ruining her Sunday dress by playing in the mud, but nothing more.

Well, right now she was about to throw herself through a massive pile of psychic-mumbo-jumbo energy to grab a flying man the size of a giant in an attempt to stop him from destroying the whole house in his sleep.

 _Maybe it’s a little worse than mud_ she thought, snarkily. 

After a deep breath, she flexed her legs and gave herself a strong push off the floor. In the next instant, she was in mid-air with the weird psychic wind blowing in her face. Ben hovered before her, a few inches away as she finally managed to outstretch her hands and grab unceremoniously at his nightshirt, tugging his bulky torso closer to her.

“Ben!” Rey screamed again, but the only reaction she got was a stronger blow from the invisible energy. Not eager to be shoved around, the girl found herself circling one of his long, toned legs with one of her much thinner, small ones.

Basically feeling like a monkey struggling to keep itself on a tree during a damn tornado, Rey fought to climb his immobile frame in an attempt to reach for his face. Gosh, a part of her really wanted to slap him. Hard.

Almost groaning for the effort of fighting against the energy force Rey finally managed to straddle his torso, hands clawing at his broad shoulders.

“Ben, wake-” she almost screamed in his face but she suddenly stopped when she noticed his expression. 

His angular features were contorted in anguish and terror, his lips restless as he gasped for air. His eyelids were shut closed and yet tears were spilling from the corner of his eyes, his whole face flushed by distress. He was so vulnerable and desperate in that moment Rey almost felt guilty staring at him, for being there, stealing the sight of his pain without him knowing.

At the same time, witnessing him so miserable even in his sleep made her heart clench in a way she wasn’t used to. It was unsettling at such a level she had to do something.

If screaming hasn’t helped, maybe he needed… _Shit! Yup, definitely something different!_ She almost squealed as she dodged a lamp floating at full speed around them by crouching against him.

_Christ, what can I do? What can I do?_

Her eyes returned to his face and suddenly a memory hit her like a lightning bolt. When she was little and she had nightmares, her grandfather always came to comfort her, sitting beside her in her small bed and…

Hesitantly Rey’s hand find her way through Ben’s hair, carding it gently, her fingers tracing slow, soothing strokes on his scalp, like her grandpa used to do to her.

It felt weird. Let’s face it, after all those lonely years any kind of human contact would have felt weird, but this felt strange, intimate, necessary.

The girl lowered herself on his shoulder, finding his ear. She took a deep breath and she started talking, as smoothly and as softly as she could.

“Ben,” she murmured, her fingers still in his raven hair, “Ben, it’s okay, you can wake up now.”

After a couple of seconds his ragged breaths started to calm down, but considering the overwhelming amount of object still twirling around she continued. 

“Ben,” Rey insisted gently, “It’s okay, you are not alone anymore, you can wake up.”

She was asking herself why those exact words had come out from her mouth when Ben’s eyes opened wide and he gasped loudly.

They barely had the time to look at each other, in a second they were surrounded by the loud noise of all Ben’s belongings finally falling to the ground, and right after that they were falling too, Ben on the bed and Rey on top of him, stealing a strangled grunt from his lips.

“Christ, sorry, sorry!” she squealed awkwardly removing herself from on top of him, “Did I hurt you? Are you alright?”

Ben needed a few moments to catch his breath, his dark, frightened eyes roaming around the room.

“I did this, didn’t I?” he murmured, his voice hoarse.

Rey didn’t respond, pausing for a minute, searching for the right thing to say.

_Damn, she wasn’t good at this._

“Pretty bad nightmare, huh?” she murmured hesitantly after a while.

Ben’s eyes were still wet when he nodded.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked.

She gave him an obvious look.

_Yeah, like you actually might._

He seemed to remember.

“Uh, sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“Rey?” he warily looked away when he spoke again. He seemed embarrassed, at least if the red tips of his ears poking through his hair were any indication.

“Yes?”

“Were you stroking my hair or something, before?”

“Yup,” she shrugged. “It used to help me when I was little and I had nightmares.”

Ben took a deep breath and just nodded, looking at anything but her.

“Ben?”

“Yes?”

 

“Do you need me to pet your hair again while you fall asleep?” 

She wasn’t ashamed to offer, but she did surprise herself at her own offer. _Yup_ , she wasn’t good at this.

Ben gave her a confused look. He bit his lower lip before finally speaking.

“Wouldn’t it be weird?”

Rey gave him almost an amused look.

“Ben, we’re a girl who cannot die and a man who can move objects with his mind. What could be weirder than that?” 

The man barely held back a snort.

“You’re right. I’m afraid.”

“Ben?”

“Yes?”

“Lie down.”

“O-okay.”

He hesitated a little as he laid his head down on the pillow. Rey found a spot just beside him, careful to avoid touching him more than necessary. She didn’t want to be too invasive with the rest of her body. 

“Now just,” she murmured, as her hand reached for his hair, “try to sleep.”

Ben’s breathing relaxed almost instantly at the gentle brush of her fingers through his mane. After a muttered, sleepy _Goodnight_ his face finally softened. 

Minutes later Ben’s breath finally slowed, coming out deep, serene as he slept. The door of his room opened cautiously.Rey’s hand was still in his hair when Leia peered through the doorway, worry on her exhausted face.

The older woman gave the girl a surprised look but said nothing, taking her time to survey the scene. For a moment she seemed not only impressed but almost relieved.

“Thank you,” she mouthed toward the girl in a soft smile. 

Rey merely shook her head, saying nothing in return. 

Leia closed the door, as she left, barely hiding the contented smile on her face. 

 

***

 

Rey woke up the morning after with a perplexed grunt and something warm and heavy on her thigh.

It took her a few moments to shake away the sleep from her confused head and open her eyes properly with a quite massive yawn.

At some point in the night, she must have nodded off, her back on the headboard, while watching Ben. 

_Oh, right, Ben._

She was still in his room, she noticed as her eyes fell on the floor, still covered in an overwhelming amount of random objects, most of them at least partially broken.

Rey stirred and let out a muffled, relaxed groan. It was then that she focused properly on the weight on her tight. Her movement must have disturbed it because now a long nose was nuzzling against her leg, a mop of black hair covering almost all the silly My Little Pony themed fabric of the shorts she has borrowed from Rose.

_Oh._

A soft snoring confirmed that _yes_ , the weight was actually a person, Ben Solo to be more precise, still deeply asleep and who had apparently selected her thigh as a pillow. 

Like a far too curious cat, Rey found herself glancing over at the man with narrow eyes, a single finger poking inquisitively at one of his cheeks as he remained resting.

His skin was soft, at least softer than hers for sure, and peppered with small beauty marks where she had freckles instead.

The comparison fascinated her for some reason.

She was tempted to gently poke his face again, just below his cheekbone. It was then with a muffled, sleepy groan when Ben moved into his slumber encircling his pillow in his toned arms.

_Oh wait._

Said pillow was not just one of her legs, but also the other one and part of her hips apparently.

Rey gasped as he made himself comfortable with a content hum. That was really, really uncomfortable for her though, her hips were tilting in a quite impractical angle and…

_Wait, what the hell?_

Rey struggled to remember the last time she had goosebumps. Based on the few times she had, she found them to be uncomfortable, but this time they were… nice. For some reason.

Well, not exactly nice. Nice wasn’t the appropriate word for it. She felt warm and somehow pleasant.

A part of her really wanted to disentangle herself from the sleeping man’s hold but his slumbering expression was so relaxed, she didn’t have the heart to after what she had witnessed the night prior.

For once Ben’s aquiline face wasn’t afflicted by the usual gloom, by the neverending worry which seemed to plague him from the first moment they had met. He was just a man resting peacefully, his silken hair partially covering his cheeks, long lashes standing out against the pale half-moon under her eyes, the soft line of his full lips following slightly the gentle tone of his breath.

It was almost fascinating to see someone this close. Of course, Rey wasn’t aware of how inappropriate their position must have looked from the outside.

After all, growing up alone and without any kind of relationship (other than the one she had had with her grandfather) hadn’t made her particularly aware of boundaries between nonfamilial relations or the proper behavior for a girl her age who was alone with a man Ben’s age.

Her eyes were still on him as he grunted something incomprehensible in his sleep, nuzzling his long nose against her leg again as if it was a proper pillow.

The contact caused a strange sensation to stir within her. All of a sudden Rey’s face grew warmer, and she was acutely aware of the tickle of the stubble on his chin on her skin. A shiver, then another. _What the hell?_

In contrast to how peaceful and unassuming Ben looked, Rey felt like a war was brewing inside her body. Her mouth turned dry in a matter of second and something incredibly heated was happening in her lower belly, a spot of herself she hadn’t had the need to acknowledge until now.

What the hell was going on? It wasn’t exactly painful, not at all to be precise, but it was new and weird, and… Was her breath ragged? Oh, shit, she was feeling dizzy now. Was she…ill?

She couldn’t remember a single episode in her life in which she had been sick. As a matter of fact, Rey didn't believe she could get sick, due to her mutation. 

Her instinctive response was to panic. There was something wrong with her health. There had never been something wrong with her health before, so whatever was going on had to be serious. She needed a doctor and she needed one right now.

The sudden agitation made her breathe even faster as she finally managed to squirm away, far less gently than she hoped.

The girl basically fell off the bed with an undignified grunt, gasping for air as her lower belly kept burning and tingling, goosebumps still tormenting her skin.

“Mh?” _Great,_ the muffled, perplexed sound came from Ben, and for some reason, she was panicking even more now.

As Ben turned around and saw her, fingers clawed at his sheets for dear life and face flushed, his half-closed eyelids spread open in apprehension, and he finally jolted awake completely.

“Oh my God, Rey, what’s going on?” he mumbled, voice still hoarse and a definitely confused expression on his face.

“I-I don’t feel well,” the girl murmured clenching her jaw.

It wasn’t exactly true but it was the closest thing to truth that she could articulate.

His brain must have been half asleep because it took him a few seconds to reply with the adequate amount of surprise.

“Oh, God.” In a second Ben was on his feet, walking closer. For some reason Rey both wanted him to stay away and to draw near at the same time. “Is that even possible? For you to feel sick, I mean.”

She replied with a frustrated groan, instinctively tightening her legs as if her body was searching for some kind of relief. It didn’t come.

“Okay, everything is going to be okay.” His voice wasn’t exactly reassuring as he grabbed her in a rush of apprehension, one of his big hands on her back, the other beneath her knees, “Just breathe, try to relax, I’ll take you to Paige.”

For some reason, she struggled to understand, being lifted and held against him made things even worse. If possible, her face flushed a deeper red, her legs felt like jelly and that damn pulsing in her lower belly flared with heat.

Rey shot Ben a look behind her half-closed eyelids. As they strolled toward the med lab, something in his firm expression told her he was regretting not being able to read her mind.

***

Ben remained outside of the door during Rey’s check-up. It was absurd how determined the tiny figure of Paige Tico appeared, as she basically threw him out of the room with a single glare.

Rey explained her symptoms, panic in her eyes as Paige listened in silence, occasionally giving her a reassuring nod.

After a long pause, in which the young doctor kept writing something on her tablet, she gave her a serious, pensive look.

“So: tingle and warmth in your lower belly and face, goosebumps, shivers, heavy breathing, light dizziness, that’s all?”

The other girl just nodded nervously.

Paige’s eyes moved swiftly back and forth from Rey to the glass window at the end of the room, where Ben was still waiting.

“And… this has never happened to you before.”

“Never.”

Paige’s eyebrows raised eloquently.

“Did it happen when you were in the company of someone else, Ben maybe?”

“Well, yeah, why?” Rey asked furrowing her brow.

“And now that Ben is outside, are you feeling any better?”

After a moment of hesitation, the girl just nodded.

She heard distinctly Paige holding back a little, amused snort.

“It’s alright Rey,” She assured her after a second with a warm smile, “There’s nothing wrong with you.”

“Are you sure?”

Paige gave a brief, furtive look to the glass window again, moving slightly closer.

“Yes, I’m sure, darling. You just like Ben.”

Rey was definitely confused now. She wasn’t even embarrassed to question the doctor.

“Well, there’s nothing wrong with him, he’s nice to me, of course I like him.”

“O-okay,” the young doctor replied with a perplexed expression, “Just… I didn’t mean that you like him that way…”

“And in what way?”

“Well,” Paige took a deep breath, “Rey, you’re an adult and I’m going to talk to you like one. What you just experienced is arousal. It’s a natural response of your body to the proximity of someone you’re attracted to. Physically attracted.”

 

“By physically attracted you mean…”

“Someone you might want to have sexual intercourse with. Biologically speaking.”

“Oh.”

_Oh._

Rey was only vaguely familiar with such dynamics, baby-making and all that stuff. Even if she clearly knew what intercourse was she had never felt the need to indulge in such mysterious, confusing activities.

“This never happened to me before,” she admitted, suddenly feeling the need to fix her eyes on the tip of her toes.

“Rey, darling, you’ve lived in pretty unhealthy condition until a couple of days ago. You told me that you’ve spent months without eating or sleeping,” Paige explained cautiously. “My guess is that despite your capacity for regeneration, your body operated for a lengthy period of time in some kind of emergency mode, avoiding to waste precious resources in some secondary systems, like your reproductive one.”

“So?” Rey asked, even more confused by the explanation.

“So now that you’re eating, and sleeping, your body has started functioning properly. Having hormonal responses is a normal part of adulthood, there’s nothing wrong with what happened and you have nothing to be worried about.”

“Is it going to happen again?” the younger girl bit her lower lip in evident discomfort.

“Well, yes, maybe, and it’s completely normal. It looked like such a big deal to you because you were unprepared and you didn’t know what was happening,” Paige’s gentle hand landed on her shoulder, giving her a reassuring pat, “And trust me, in time you’ll get to appreciate the beauty in it.”

Rey kept biting her lip, her eyes roaming around the room as she took in the considerable amount of new information. 

“And…what should I do about this?” she murmured after a while.

“Oh, well. I think it’s a good idea if I give you something to read about this matter, to be informed, just in case,” Paige fumbled near her desk for a few seconds, handing her a few pamphlets with a wide reassuring smile on her face right after. Too bad what Rey really wished to know was what to do with Ben. 

It was not like she knew the proper etiquette for this kind of situation.


	5. There is no other way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here, have some Cover Art!
> 
> I finally get some time to do a little cover art for this fic, if you want to see it at a proper resolution be sure to check my Tumblr  
> https://spiegatrixlestrange.tumblr.com/
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> As always I'm incredibly grateful to my Betas for this project, SageMcMae and Wilde-World. You two are amazing and I'd be nothing without you <3

Ben waited patiently outside of the med lab patiently for Rey, but when she finally came out all she offered him was a brief _I have to go_ and not much else. Then she rapidly walked away, hiding something under her sweater.

That girl was…well, weird. Okay, maybe weird was a relative term considering the context. Since Ben was used to knowing people’s thoughts, being unable to read hers was quite unsettling, and yet refreshing in some way.

He really hoped she would find her place among them, a place to feel safe, a place to feel at home. She needed something like that as much as every one of them did.

Since the med lab door remained open upon her departure, he moved a couple of steps inside, hands in his pockets.

Paige was working on her tablet, she didn’t even look at him when she started speaking.

“No, Ben.”

“No, what?” he asked furrowing his brow.

“I’m not going to tell you what’s wrong with Rey. She’s fine, but nothing else is of your concern,” she clarified immediately, a vaguely amused grin on her face, “and if you try to read my mind I’m going to tell your mother.”

“But I-”

“I don’t need to be a mind reader to know what you wanted to do. I sensed your concern for that girl from the damn corridor.”

Ben rolled his eyes, _Damn Paige Tico and her telempathy._

“Hey!” she gave him a side look, that damn grin still on her face, “Don’t be annoyed. I’m just doing my job here. Rey is entitled to her privacy.”

“Is she alright at least?” he questioned, shrugging his shoulders.

“More than alright, to be honest,” Paige assured him with a wide smile.

Damn. He was seriously tempted to read her thoughts no matter the consequences. After all, if he managed to be careful enough Paige might not even find out but… _No._ He wasn’t that person anymore. His power was a burden to be used for greater things, not for his personal gain. He was no longer the tool Snoke wanted him to be, at least not anymore and his only wish was to never go back. No matter how tempting, no matter how easy. He was in charge of his abilities, not the contrary, not anymore.

His chest felt heavy as he took a deep breath, forcing his mind to go blank, to stop thinking about the past, but it was challenging. The more he shoved those memories in the back of his head, away from his consciousness, the more they hurt.

“Don’t do that, Ben,” Paige assured him, clearly sensing his feelings, “If you’re thinking about him, just don’t.”

Ben was about to reply when something hit his mental perception. As he looked at Paige she was looking up already, her attention to the upper floor, where the main hall was.

“Apprehension,” she murmured, her eyes on the roof, “Excitement, Anticipation. Something is going on up here.”

The man nodded briefly, his mind drifting rapidly between hints of thoughts from the people upstairs.

“It’s something about Snoke,” Ben responded, “We really should go.”

_***_

“Now that we’re hall here,” Leia begun as Ben and Paige entered the room, “We have something to discuss. Rose, please.”

The girl just nodded, and in a snap of her fingers the huge screen of their TV switched on, revealing the static image of a highly detailed building layout.

“So,” Leia started again, “We recently became aware that Snoke is organizing a fundraiser for his campaign in his private mansion in upstate New York. It’s quite a rare opportunity to sneak in without being noticed. Snoke’s attention will be on all his investors.”

“It’s not like he needs much time to convince them,” Phamsa argued bitterly.

“He can’t expose himself too much,” Luke pointed out from the couch, “He’s still going to be a good host. It might actually be an opportunity for us if we’re careful.”

“The only problem is,” Leia continued, “that he knows most of our faces, pretty well. The key here is to go unnoticed. If he can’t see us, he can’t talk to us. If he can talk to us, we’re screwed, each and every one of us.”

Silence fell in the room, constellated by an impatient grunt of an apprehensive sigh here and there.

“I can go,” Phasma suggested at some point, getting an alarmed look from everyone, mostly from Ben and Armitage. “What? I can change my appearance into basically anyone. If there’s no other way-”

“Rey,” Armitage’s voice interrupted her.

“I beg your pardon?” Leia looked at him with wide eyes.

“Rey should do it,” the man repeated nervously, “I’m looking at every possible future. None of us would manage to get out of that house with what we need. None of us, except her.”

Rey found every gaze in the room focused on her. Biting her lip, she closed the bag of chips in her hands very slowly.

“What happens in the others?” Luke inquired.

“Slavery, subjugation, pain, and destruction,” Armitage explained rapidly, “basically, the usual.”

“This is a bad idea,” Ben gritted through his teeth.

“We can’t put someone in danger without their consent,” Leia remarked firmly, “And besides-”

“How should I do it?” Rey’s question stopped Leia’s insistence, as the young girl spoke to Hux directly.

“I-I don’t know,” Hux admitted, “The presence of Snoke in this scenario stops my sight. As you know, I can only look at the consequences, and you’re the one with the best possibility to succeed.”

“This is ridiculous,” Ben hissed, almost jumping on his feet, his imposing figure towering over the others. “Rey, you don’t have to do this. Snoke can still do terrible things to you, even if you can’t die.”

His fists were tight as he spoke, and the sight puzzled Rey. Was he angry?

“I only want to help!” she asserted with a hint of exasperation.

“You’re not going to be of any help if you fall into Snoke’s grasp!” Ben insisted, raising his voice.

“I can teleport her out of there in case of emergency. I can be swift enough,” Luke intervened almost calmly.

“I can keep track of her in every moment,” Rose added shyly, clearing her throat, “Only if Rey is okay with this, of course.”

Ben groaned in frustration, his large hands covering his face. For a brief moment he was tempted to counter their offers, but after a deep, furious breath he just turned on his heel, “Do as you wish. Apparently being enslaved by Snoke for years doesn’t make my opinion relevant enough on this matter.”

“Ben!” his mother called him, but he was already storming off, the imposing glass door opening swiftly as he flipped his fingers in mid-air and slamming loudly behind him as he left.

A few heavy sighs filled the room and Rey’s was among them. She glanced around, confused, biting her lip. She was frantically thinking about what to do when, almost casually, her gaze crossed Hux’s.

He gave her a meaningful look, raising his ginger eyebrows. He said nothing, just nodded toward the door Ben had slammed shut in a clear suggestion.

Rey took the hint almost instantly, leaping to her feet and running out of the room without a word to anyone.

When the door closed again, all the eyes in the room landed on Armitage, who shrugged carelessly.

_***_

_“_ Ben!” Rey almost shouted.

He was halfway to the pond in the mansion park when she caught up to him, nearly running to match his longer strides.

“Rey, please, not now,” he hissed without slowing his pace.

“Ben, talk to me,” she pleaded. Not that she knew exactly how to handle the situation but her instincts, helped by Hux’s hint, told her to try talking to him.

“Why? My opinion doesn’t matter anyway,” Ben stated coldly, still walking deeper into the park.

“Nobody said that. Ben, please,” she grabbed his forearm, yanking him backward, oblivious of her own strength. The man was forced to stop, almost stumbling on his own feet in surprise. Rey instinctively stretched out her hand, pinning it to his sternum to keep him balanced.

Ben collected himself, straightening up instantly, and clearing his throat, clearly not used to this unusual kind of manhandling.

“What do you want, Rey?” he murmured, looking away.

“Why are you acting like this?” she asked nervously, “You heard Hux, I’m the only one who-”

“Fuck what Hux said,” the man spat, his hands clenching into fists. “Even if something is supposed to happen it doesn’t make it’s a good idea.”

“So what do we do?” Rey inquired, raising her voice, “We wait here until Snoke enslaves us all? I understand you’re scared. Hux told me what happened but-”

“You know nothing, Rey!” his response was harsh as he moved forward, almost shouting directly into her face. “You don’t know how it is to feel like a tool, to be a slave to someone else’s will, to watch as a spectator while your body moves on its own accord, doing things you would never do, hurting people or worse. I-” Ben swallowed thickly, glancing away in shame. “I agreed to do terrible things at one point, solely for the thrill of feeling in charge of my actions once again.”

He brought his eyes back at her, a wordless challenge. Challenging her to say something kind, to treat him with her usual gentleness. How could she?

Rey was staring at him with wide eyes, her lower lip trembling slightly. Was it disgust, pity? God! he hated so much not being able to read her mind.

“I was fifteen,” she murmured in a breath, after a long moment. “The first time I killed, I was fifteen.”

Ben said nothing, swallowing thickly, his fists melting, his hands falling numbly at his sides.

“It was my first week in Phoenix. I ventured into the wrong part of the city and a guy assaulted me. I had nothing he could steal, and yet he tried to hurt me. He held a knife to my throat and I- I was just so tired, and exasperated. I wasn’t even scared by that point.” Her arms crossed on top of her slim torso, as she lowered her eyes to the ground. “He tried to stab my legs so I couldn’t run and for a long moment, I actually wished he could kill me. But he couldn’t. I knew it already, and I was tired of the pain, even if my body would have healed right after. I was exhausted, and all I wanted was to end it, one way or another.

“I killed him with his own knife. I sliced his throat and ran, without looking back. And it doesn’t matter that he tried to kill me, to hurt me. I felt so ashamed,” her voice trembled as she felt her eyes sting, “So regretful for taking his life. For being capable of doing so.”

Ben’s eyes were so warm, and sad while looking at her, but he said nothing. He mirrored her body language, as he took a deep breath, lowering his head.

“I understand I’m young, and I know little about most things in life, but I know about regret, and self-hate quite a lot. And maybe that’s why we’re here,” she continued, shrugging her shoulders, “Maybe that’s why we got this second chance. Maybe even people like us can do the right thing.”

And then, the most unexpected thing happened. This young girl he barely knew, not even out of her teenage years yet, with probably the hardest life experience he had ever come across, smiled up at him. It wasn’t a fake smile like the kind politicians wore. Ben doubted Rey was even capable of faking a smile. No, hers was a small, painful smile, shining against her troubled face as her eyes started to get wet and her brow furrowed in barely hidden despair.

Rey was trying to comfort him. Rey, the girl that only wished to die, that owed him nothing, was taking time and energy from her personal tragedy to reassure him that he wasn’t the only one. That he was still human. That he was not alone.

Ben could barely remember the last time he had felt so grateful. Even if they were sharing their suffering they were sharing something, and he hadn’t allowed himself to share something with anyone for a very long time.

To his surprise, his body moved before he realized what was happening. His bulky arms surrounded her tiny frame with a firm gentleness he didn’t know he was capable of. His large hands trembled, one on her shoulder, one on the small of her back. He could barely remember the last time he felt the need to hug someone. Regardless there he was, his chest heavy with understanding, his mind went blank as he just followed an almost forgotten need: a need for kinship, for belonging, for connection.

Ben expected her to run away, to call him a freak and take off running as far as she could. After all, she was so young, it might be easy to misinterpret his intentions considering all she’d suffered through.

Instead, she inhaled deeply and he felt her slender frame melt into his hold, her small hands gently encircling his thick torso as her head tilted slightly, nesting against his shoulder.

There was nothing but pure, raw emotion in their embrace, nothing suggestive or tempting, only desperately needed affection and comfort. It felt overwhelming and relieving and perfect, just perfect.

“I know,” Rey murmured at some point, smiling slightly against his sweater, “It’s pretty silly, a pep talk from the girl who tried to kill herself a hundred times.”

Ben held back a soft snort, landing his cheek on the crown of her head.

“Please, promise me you won’t try again,” he whispered placidly, closing his eyes.

“I won’t.”

His smile grew wider against her hair.

“And please, be careful with Snoke.”

“I will.”

 

***

 

The main hall was almost empty.

Most of the previous occupants had found themselves something to do in light of the upcoming mission. Most of them, except two.

Luke’s deep blue eyes were looking outside of the window, lost in the unexpected sight of his nephew hugging that girl, the Kenobi girl.

If she really was Rey Kenobi, of course.

It was heartbreaking and yet heartwarming at the same time to see two young people coming so close together despite all they’d been through.

“In case you’re wondering,” Hux cleared his throat, his hands in his pockets, “They’re going to be happy. Normal life, wedding, kids, all that stuff. At least in most of the futures where they both survive whatever is about to happen. And of course excluding those few futures in which their first born daughter turns into some kind of super-powerful evil overlord.”

Luke rolled his eyes, barely holding a snort.

“You know, Armitage? Spoilers aren’t always a good thing. You should really let people enjoy things once in a while,” the older man suggested, still looking out of the window.


	6. Something to Fight for

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here we are again with some more Cover Art,  
> Sorry I was busier this week and I didn't manage to color it properly but I hope you'll enjoy it anyway!
> 
> [](https://ibb.co/cXbJMp)  
> As always my thanks go to my amazing betas SageMcMae and Wilde-World, their support is invaluable to me and this story would be nothing without them!

The days which followed were probably the most serene in Rey’s life since she had her powers.

In the morning she usually started early, with a huge, yummy breakfast and a walk in the park. Right after Luke and Leia would brief her about the upcoming mission, actively involving her in the crafting of the plan.

Then her favorite part of the day began. 

Lunch with the gang, joking and talking and enjoying each other’s company, and after that, spending time with Ben.

Normally they watched TV side by side for hours, eating unhealthy snacks. 

Most of the time Rey would end up asking pretty random stuff while watching TV. It was like explaining the world to a child, while she looked in wonder at this or that on the screen.

Sometimes Ben found himself grinning like an idiot, explaining to her the most basic stuff in life in the least condescending way possible. 

Even if her lack of practical knowledge made her look even younger, her curiosity and need for understanding the world she had avoided for so long, was almost alluring.

It was like looking at some brave explorer discovering new lands, or a determined scientist achieving one goal after another. 

Every single thing Ben had once taken for granted now appeared interesting and amazing as Rey discovered them under his eyes, making him feel as though they’d been revealed to him for the first time, as well.

It was a silly, soft voyage of discovery for both of them, and at some point, Ben recognized the time he spent with her was teaching him just as much as Rey was learning. 

He could barely remember the last time he had laughed so hard.

That sound was so unusual in the house that when he first laughed hard enough to be heard he alarmed half of the residents. Rose, Poe, and Phasma came rushing in to see if something was wrong. 

After that single episode, they started to act weirdly around him and Rey.

Poe even murmured _cradle robber_ under his breath as he pretended to sneeze, giving Ben an amused look from the other side of the dinner table one night.

Were they seriously implying that he and Rey’s might have _that_ kind of relationship?

 _Okay_ , they spent a lot of time together, and her presence was contributing to his good mood as of late, and _yes,_ sometimes, when a cup or a book fell to the ground in the dead of night she usually sneaked into his room to make his nightmares went away, but…

Rey was far too pure for this world and _well, he was not_. 

A person like him was the last thing a girl like her needed to achieve a healthy romantic love life.

And _Damn,_ Why was he thinking about this? _Oh, yeah,_ in about two days Rey would have her first mission. They were chilling on the usual couch in one of the smaller living rooms and she insisted on watching _My Fair Lady_ , for some reason.  
A movie he had never particularly liked.

They were halfway through the first act when Rey suffocated a giggle, her mouth full of popcorn.

“What?”

“They’re like us!” She giggled, nodding toward the television.

Ben’s brow furrowed.

“What do you mean?”

“Mr.Higgins and Eliza. They’re like us.”

 

 _Well,_ he surely haven’t seen that coming. At this point in the movie, Rey had no way of knowing these two characters would end up together, yet the thought gave him a chill of panic. 

No, they were not Higgins and Eliza. Ben was sure they wouldn’t end up.

“I don’t understand,” he admitted briefly.

“He’s trying to civilize her,” She giggled again, her wide, pure smile beaming at him, “Like you’re trying to civilize me.”

Ben wondered how it was possible to feel relieved and disappointed at the same time.

“I’m not that obnoxious, I hope,” he just murmured, determined to stuff his mouth with popcorn before he could say something foolish.

“Just a little,” Rey mused giving him an amused look.

Humor. Something he could work with, _well, sort of_.

He put on his best outraged face.

“How dare you!” the man exclaimed in what was probably the worst British accent in history.

“Oh, I’m sorry Mr. Solo,” her cockney accent sounded far less ridiculous than his British one for some reason, “Does the truth hurt too much?” She completed her question with a fist of popcorns aimed directly at his face.

“You asked for it!” He barely dodged a few of the popcorn kernels Before she could realize his intentions one of his large hands was in mid-air, fidgeting slightly in a brief mental command which turned Rey’s popcorn against her, hitting her mercilessly as she started to giggle, hiding her face behind her harms.

“We’re using powers for this?” she asked, pretending indignation, “Very well!”

 

For some reason, Ben kept forgetting about the significant fact that the slender, petite young woman next to him was actually two or three times stronger than the average bodybuilder. 

And well, he might have been strong, but definitely not as strong as a bodybuilder, let alone three.

In a moment the game had turned in some sort of improbable wrestling match, with Ben pushed against the sofa like a sack of potatoes. The small and firm weight of Rey’s backside landed abruptly on his belly, pushing out every hint of air from his lungs, his neck stuck in the firm hold against the crook of her elbow as her other arm was forcing his head still.

 _What the_. To be honest, Ben was definitely a big man, not just big, but also quite broad, heavy for sure despite being toned and quite in shape. The last time he had been manhandled this way was probably back in middle school when he was still gangly and awkward, _well, more awkward_ , all elbows and knees and ears and scruffy black hair.

At least Rey wasn’t causing him pain, her hold while firm as steel was not tight enough to actually hurt him. His pride was hurt for sure but that was a different story.

He inhaled sharply, trying to struggle, and suddenly realized Rey was de facto on top of him, the soft lines of her chest dangerously close to his cheek, her cute little backside right on top of his belly, her soft, rapid breaths brushing over the crown of his head. 

And _Gosh, was that her heart?_ his ear was too near her chest to not notice how her heartbeat’s pace was more jackhammer than human at the moment. 

No. _Nope, nope, nope._

This was a bad idea. She was too cute, too attractive for him to be unaffected by her sudden proximity.

But at the same time, she was Rey, so young, so pure, so unaware and too adorable to realize the possible consequences of getting this close.

No, no, _nope._ Even if she smelled amazing and her weight lingering on him was making him dizzy he repressed the need to hug her, to pull her closer and raised his free arms almost helplessly.

“I surrender!” He proclaimed, his voice huskier than he wished.

Rey needed to move away from him, and fast. Not that he was the kind of man capable of flipping a girl against a couch and take his chances without a second thought but well, sooner or later his body would have realized what was going on and its reaction would have been evident, and awkward, and just _no, please no, Holy mother of Mutants_ , as Rose would say.

Rey’s arms moved away from his head and his gaze went inevitably to her face. She was breathing with suspicious dept, her pupils blown almost covering the adorable hazelnut shade of her eyes, cheeks flushed, cute pink lips slightly parted only inches away from his face and…

 _No, Nope. Solo, you’re better than this._ For a split second Ben felt the urge to remember Snoke’s beliefs and his constant teachings. 

Everything was owed to people like them. They were gods above mortals, the next frontier of human evolution.

Getting what they wanted, what their power made them worthy of, was not only a wish, but it was a duty to them. 

No one was above them, or their equal for that matter. Not the powerless homo sapiens sapiens, nor those who hide their gifts in the shadows, ashamed of their superiority.

It would have been so easy to grab Rey, kiss her and have his way with her without a second thought, probably she would have enjoyed it in a way, he didn’t need to read her thought to notice the flush on her face or remember the thud of her heartbeat. 

She was so young, and alone, desperate for someone to hold her, someone to offer her a place by their side. 

Ben found himself wetting his lips, his gaze fixed on her mouth, her breath caressing his face.

_No._

She deserved better. Rey didn’t deserve someone as damaged as him, someone who would have took advantage of her lifetime of loneliness to grab her and do what they wanted with her. 

Someone who had never turned into a monster merely to feel empowered, strong, worthy.

She needed someone young, and kind, and free, free from the burden he had on his shoulders. Someone who didn’t live in the past, someone who hadn’t sins to be forgiven, even if unforgivable.

For a moment he almost refused to admit to himself that he wished to be the person she needed, but there was no denying he wasn’t no matter what he wanted, no matter the liquid, adorably warm gaze she was sending him. 

She was pure and genuine, and good. He was none of those things, he had lost the chance to be any of those things a long time ago. 

“Did I hurt you?” she muttered, her soft eyes still on him. She was still sitting on his belly, and he hasn’t been able to move her away. _Pathetic, weak._

Ben’s lips clenched as he shook his head, forcing himself to react, at last. 

One of his massive hands reached for her back, and he shifted slightly, pushing her gently to his side on the couch. It wasn’t the most comfortable of positions, the couch was barely big enough to contain both of them but at least she wasn’t dangerously close to his pelvis now, and he was still circling chastely part of her frame, her shoulders, not yet ready to let go.

_Coward._

She allowed him to position her without a complaint, her eyes following him curiously as he kept avoiding her stare. 

At the end, when Rey was finally resting on her side, her small frame nested against his armpit, she finally spoke, her voice almost hesitant.

“Ben, are you alright?”

The man nodded, but his expression was clearly telling otherwise.

“Ben…” Rey insisted in a murmur.

“It’s okay, really.” 

“Did I-” The girl bit her lower lip nervously, “Did I made you uncomfortable?”

His brow furrowed almost instantly, his eyes landed on her sorry face right away.

“What are you talking about?”

“Well I-” Rey’s eyes seemed restless, looking around at anything but him, “I’m reading stuff lately, I need to catch up with stuff that is happening to me and…”

“Rey, I’m afraid I’m not following you.”

“Well…” she took in a deep breath, and buried face against him, “Promise me not to laugh.”

He goofily raised up one elbow, giving her a slightly worried look. 

“Of course…”

She inhaled slowly before she was hiding her face in his side once more.

“Lately I’m- I’m changing, okay? Probably it’s because of the food, of the sleep and… Well, I’m taking slightly better care of myself and this means that my body is starting to work properly…”

Ben said nothing, if she would have looked at him Rey would have noticed a considerable confusion in his eyes.

“I mean, Paige told me that even if I am eighteen it was like I was a child in some aspects, some stuff was just not-” The girl found herself coughing, “Working properly.”

As Rey raised her face from his sweater, she noticed his glare on her and gave a frustrated sigh, he looked far too clueless for a mindreader.

“What I mean is that… I’m not used to be close to people,” the girl admitted, matter-of-factly, “even if I’m trying my best I don’t always know what is… appropriate or not. Paige gave me a few pamphlets about the subject but they don’t explain much about how to interact with people besides-” _God, was she blushing?_ “You know…”

 _Great_ , now Ben was looking at her like she had two heads.

“Hey-hum,” he started, swallowing thickly, “Can you please be a little more… Specific? I don’t want to misinterpret-”

“I don’t know the difference between being close to people in a friendly way or in a more-than-friendly way,” she finally admitted in an exasperated huff, “Because I don’t know how to behave around people in general. And because until a few days ago my body didn’t know that more-than-friendly stuff might be a possibility I suppose but… What I mean is -” Rey bit her lip, nervously, “the last thing I want is to make you uncomfortable, or be too close for your taste or act in ways that are, well, inappropriate and undesirable.

“You’re my friend and I want you to feel at ease around me so if I’m getting too close and you think it’s inappropriate just tell me, okay?”

For a long moment, Ben said nothing, his look shifting from confused to somehow comprehensive. He fell again against the couch, his arm around her shoulders tightening a little.

He took a deep breath, taking his time before speaking.

“You don’t need to worry about that with me, okay?” he murmured, cursing himself for how ridiculously weak and slightly sad his voice sounded as he fixed his eyes on the ceiling, “I know that it might feel confusing, but you’re not making me uncomfortable and you never will. Besides, “ _Shit,_ why was tone his getting almost bitter? “As you said, we’re friends, I know you’ don’t think of me like that so… We’re fine. Don’t worry.”

 _Liar, liar, liar._ He cursed himself _Ben Solo, you’re a coward and a liar._

Rey closed her eyes, nodding against his sweater.

“O-okay.” She just muttered. A part of her wanted to tell him that _Well,_ most of what he said was totally inaccurate, because, _no, for some reason she did think of him like that._ But… he was right. They were friends, he saw her as a friend and there was no reason to complicate things.

“Friends, then.” The girl whispered, but her voice sounded far less cheerful than she hoped.

 _I’m a liar,_ she cursed herself, _and a coward._

Ben just closed his eyes, nodding slightly, hesitantly.

“Friends.” He agreed, trying to hide his reluctance. 

 

***

 

The last two days before Rey’s first mission came and went with agonizing slowness.

Even her routine ended up being slightly altered from the first day at the Skywalker Mansion.

For some reason, Ben had started acting weird around her. Well, not unpleasantly weird, but weird nevertheless.

Despite the clarifying intent of their awkward discussion on the couch a few nights before the man seemed, if possible, even less comfortable around her. 

Not that his company had suddenly become unpleasant, not at all, just rarer and he seemed rather distant like his mind was away most of the time. Anyway, it was not like she had the time to get distracted right now. 

In two hours she would be inside Snoke’s residence, and there was no space for feeling once she was. She needed to focus, no matter how hard it was to concentrate with her lingering disappointment over the change in her best friend.

It was almost funny. Rey had spent so many years refusing to feel anything, but after just a short time at Skywalker Mansion reverting back to going numb again was suddenly a challenge.

Rey knew the plan perfectly by now. She was playing it on repeat in her mind while the others were adding the final touches.

In the basement tech lab, Rose’s favorite room for sure, most of the inhabitants of the house were busy checking on the building layout, the position of the cameras Rose was about to hack and the guest list. No sign of Ben so far.

“So,” Armitage started, scrolling the said list on his tablet, “As we already said, you have to avoid Snoke at all cost. However, he might not be the only danger. His secretary, Bazine Netal, is one of us too. She has glands in her mouth and under her nails that can secrete neurotoxins. Not that she can actually hurt you or anything, let’s just say that she might slow you down on your way out,”

Rose snapped her finger absently, and the picture of a quite attractive woman with dark eyes and high cheekbones showed up on the huge main screen.

Rey nodded slightly, taking in her features.

“Got it.”

“And my father, of course,” Hux added in a wince, “Brendol Hux, Snoke’s right hand. Keep your distance from him, he’s even more dangerous. His gift allows him to alter the perception of time. He can make you go fast enough to burst into flames or slow enough to block your movements.”

The girl merely nodded as Poe moved forward, offering her a black vest and a bowtie, the remaining touches to her disguise as a waitress for the night.

“Try not to worry too much,” the man suggested with a small, encouraging smirk, “Those rich assholes barely look at the servers during events like this.”

“I really hope so,” Rey admitted, taking a deep breath.

The seriousness of the whole situation was underlined by the unusual absence of remarks by Leia toward Poe’s language.

As the older woman came closer to Rey to help her with the vest she finally spoke, her tone firm and yet soothing.

“If something goes wrong, or you want to stop just tell us, we’re giving you an intercom for a reason,” she pointed out, “Just one word an Luke will get you out of there.”

Rey said nothing, chewing her lip nervously. In response she only nodded, closing her eyes.

With a gentle pull to her black bowtie, Rey was finally ready. She was about to speak when the door opened and her eyes fell on the imposing figure strolling into the room.Ben was wearing some kind of expression which said he was both sorry, and yet worried at the same time.. 

He said nothing as he came closer, eyes struggling to meet hers.

“Hey,” she muttered, in a shy greeting. Rey could tell their interaction was earning them more than few curious looks but luckily no one in the room seemed eager to vocalize their interest.

Ben offered her a hesitant smile, his large hands moving to fix her bowtie with shy, vaguely clumsy touches.

As he reluctantly removed his fingers from her, he stuffed them in his pockets, probably only for the sake of not being too awkward.

“So,” he whispered, biting the inside of his cheek, “are you ready?”

Actually, Rey didn’t know, but now was not the time for hesitation. She forced a warm smile on her face, and it came out far more smoothly than she expected. For some reason, Ben’s presence made smiling easy for her.

“Of course,” she replied firmly after a second.

“Good,” he nodded, trying to return her smile. His, for quite obvious reasons, was tenser, “go get ’em, tiger.”


	7. In the Belly of the Beast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](https://ibb.co/jsrJ3e)  
>  My adorable Beta Sage MacMae did this amazing mood board for this story <3 Thank you, dear!

“Very well,” Rose started, speaking with a calm, soothing voice in her microphone, back in Skywalker’s Manor, “inform us as soon as you’re in, Highlander,”

She put Rey on speaker while, with a casual flip of her fingers the whole wall of screens in front of her switched on, each and every one of them revealing a specific corner of the huge, luxurious mansion owned by Snoke.

“Highlander?” Phasma asked, clearly perplexed.

“Poe suggested it. It fits her,” Rose shrugged.

The tall blonde rolled her eyes with an unapologetic smirk on her face.

“Nerds.”

“Hey!” the smaller girl protested, giving her a side look, “Let us have fun once in a while!”

“Oh, sure, Skynet,” Phasma replied, playfully spelling her code name with very intentional slowness, “be my guest,”

“Can we all please focus?” Luke’s voice came from behind them as he appeared in a loud _crack_ , the residual energy of his teleportation agitating the air in the room.

“Luke is right, guys.” Leia pointed out, her eyes fixed on the screens, glued on the petite figure of Rey in her waitress uniform disappearing on one TV just to appear in the next right after.

She was rapidly approaching the secondary gate, designated as the servant’s entrance.

As Rey finally entered, ignored by the security guards thanks to her disguise, the whole room almost exhaled in relief.

“I’m in,” the girl’s voice announced from the speaker.

“Excellent, my dear,” Leia replied calmly. ”Now first floor, third room to the left. Hux said earlier that he had a pretty clear vision of you walking out of there in less than five minutes, which means that Snoke is not going to be near you. We’ll keep you informed in case anything changes.”

Rey briefly looked at the camera on the near wall, totally aware they would see her. She nodded but said nothing else.

 

***

Rey walked with the most casual pace she could manage, eyes on the floor. Her squared shoulders gave away her tension, but she couldn’t help it, everyone of her senses alerted.

The girl was halfway to the stairs when a voice suddenly addressed her.

“Where do you think you’re going, girl?” She froze on the spot. Turning her head slowly she intercepted the glare of a man in his late sixties. He had an incredibly familiar face with sharp cheekbones and cold green eyes, and a well-kept ginger mane peppered with a few white stands on his temples.

“Shit,” Phasma’s voice hissed from the intercom, right in her ear.

Brendol Hux was surely more imposing than his son but slightly shorter. His tailored suit and his slightly disgusted expression made him appear like the kind of person who would have take pride in hunting puppies or in hitting children with a stick, for that matter.

“Don’t panic,” Ben’s voice took over the intercom and suddenly Rey was breathing again, almost relieved. “Repeat after me.”

“I-I was going to refill the bottles in the parlor on the first floor,” the girl explained, as smoothly as she could, carefully following Ben’s instruction. “The maitre said Mr. Snoke loves to entertain special guests with his personal scotch riserva.”

Mr. Hux’s cold expression shifted in a small pleased smirk.

“Excellent, I suppose you already know where the booze is.”

“Third compartment on the right beside the American literature library, just below the oil portrait of Thomas Jefferson,” Rey repeated mechanically after what Ben’s whispered in her ear via intercom.

Brendol appeared even more pleased, but his expression didn’t look reassuring, at all.

“Good,” he gave her a curt nod, apparently already losing any interest in the matter. “Go ahead.”

Rey bowed her head nervously, turning her back on him and walking away, forcing herself to keep her strides at an unsuspicious speed. 

“Thank you,” she whispered when she reached the bottom of the stairs, sure that no one would have heard her.

“It’s okay, Rey,” Ben reassured her from the intercom, “at least spending a lot of time in that damn house paid off.”

Luckily, the first floor was empty. Apparently the whole staff was focused on the event downstairs.

It took her Rey less than a minute to reach for the right door, but she suddenly stopped, when she noticed the small screen next to the door handle.

“Rose?” she whispered, clenching her jaw.

“On it.” 

In a matter of seconds the screen announced the correct password had been inserted, and Rey slid in closing the door behind her.The whole study looked like the perfect location for some kind of posh hate group gathering. 

Civil war paraphernalia, an assortment of animal heads which gave her absent, creepy looks from the wooden walls, precious ancient artifacts of some sort including crafted ivory tusk _because of course_ , and a whole library dedicated only to pictures of the man himself in company of other pompous people in high places. 

As planned, the elegant wooden archive was right there, waiting for her.

“Why does he keep an archive like this anyway?” Rey murmured, her hands cautiously opening the first drawer. “Most people use a computer these days.”

“He knows I’m around,” Rose smirked from the other side of the intercom. “And he’s too cautious to do this kind of mistakes.”

The girl didn’t reply as her gloved fingers drifted rapidly through the various envelopes. Her search stopped when her eyes ended up on something that inevitably caught her attention.

_Organa-Skywalker-Solo, Leia - 1964 -10 - 08_

_Skywalker, Luke - 1964 - 10 - 08_

“What the-”

“Rey, is everything alright?” Leia asked right in her ear.

“Yeah, it’s just-” her voice died in her throat as she noticed another envelope, far thicker than the others.

_Organa-Solo, Benjamin, 1990 - 11 - 19_

Before Rey could realize what she was doing the envelope was already opened in front of her. Her eyes scanned the contents eagerly. 

It took her mere seconds to realize what the whole report was about. 

Physical and psychological evaluations, photos of Ben from since he was a kid, accurate description of his powers, results of tests…

She felt distinctly a lump in her throat, her breath suddenly itching in her lungs.

This bastard tested him. He turned Ben in some kind of a lab rat, eager to find out as much as possible about his abilities. 

The more she read the more disgusting and cruel the experiments got. Electrocution, pain endurance, tests on Ben’s capacity to…

_Ben’s capacity to kill only with his mind._

She felt tears fighting to spill from her eyes as she saw photos of a much younger Ben. In the images before her, his dark eyes were empty, his head was shaved, there were bruises on his pale face and an alarming amount of electrodes on his naked skull.

Rey forced herself to move on, holding back the tears, but what came next did nothing to help her.

_Mission Reports - April 2009 - December 2015_

The reports described in the most cold, detached way possible why Ben was so valuable to Snoke: theft of military secrets, industrial espionage, torture, assassinations.

_Assassinations._

Rey barely held back a sob, her eyes wet.

As the reports went on, Rey noticed that whoever had written them seemed to underline the constant struggle of Ben, his growing resistance to Snoke’s abilities which required increasingly frequent “sessions” with him. 

“Rey, are you still there?” Rose asked from the intercom.

“Yeah- Yeah, I-”

Her eyes fell on the last report, 

_December 5, 2015_

Another murder.

_Target: Solo, Han, 62, Husband of Organa-Skywalker-Solo Leia, Father to Organa-Solo Benjamin._

The girl’s breath died in her throat. 

Snoke had made Ben kill his own father.

_Snoke had made Ben kill his own father._

As she finally bursted into tears the envelope fell from her hands in a low thud. 

“Rey, are you alright?” Rose asked, now clearly worried.

She didn’t get the chance to reply. Instantly she heard almost instantly the familiar voice of Armitage on the com.

“Rey, you need to get out of there. Grab what you can and get out. I can’t see you anymore. He’s close, you need to get out.” 

“Rey, he’s in the corridor,” Rose warned her, terror in her voice.

The girl inhaled sharply, a whole new kind of fear filling her bones, she rapidly grabbed as many envelopes as she could. Ben’s, Leia’s, Luke’s and a bunch of others. She was turning away from the archive when her eyes locked on a photo hung on the near wall.

Outside of the big residence, a much younger Snoke was posing for a group picture. Among them, only a few steps away from the monster that tortured Ben, was a face she would have recognized anywhere, only younger, more serene. 

Grandpa Ben.

“Rey, get out!” Ben’s voice desperately hurried her, but she couldn’t look away. Her hazel eyes were lost in the blue ones of the only person she have ever considered family, looking absently back at her from the old picture.

In that precise moment the door opened, and Rey found herself incapable of breathing.

The tall, unhealthily slender figure of Tiberius Snoke entered the room, tailored black suit and ice blue eyes stuck on her in what looked like surprise.

Rey froze on the spot, hands clamped around the envelopes, mouth slack, eyes wide looking back at him, terror forcing her still.

“Interesting,” The mans commented, in a tone that sounded utterly unimpressed and yet distant as eyes. “ And who are you supposed to be?”

The girl’s breath was fast and loud now. _That’s it_ was all that her mind managed, _I’m dead, for real now._

The only sound from the intercom was a general wave of panic, she barely heard Ben’s voice shouting her name.

“Answer me, girl,” Snoke’s voice was commanding and calm, and for a long moment Rey felt the distinct urge to obey, like everything in her mind was forcing her to do so, but then something happened.

The familiar tingle of her regeneration caressed her senses, easing the pressure on her thoughts as her need to comply disappeared.

She blinked a couple of times, a whole new kind of turmoil hitting her as she realized what was happening. 

Apparently intrigued by the lack of response from her, Snoke moved one step forward.

“I said, answer me, now!” he demanded more vehemently.

Nothing. The urge to do as he commanded barely scratched Rey’s mind this time, making it incredibly easy to ignore his order.

She took a deep breath, holding the envelope even closer.When she finally spoke, it was nothing like Snoke have expected. 

“Fuck off,” Rey hissed, staring straight at him. In a second her free hand grabbed the picture of her grandfather from the wall and before the evil man could reply she launched herself out of the window in a loud crash of glass.

Rey expected to hit the grass below her, but then she felt the distinct unpleasant feeling of a sudden burst of energy. She closed her eyes at the sensation. It was familiar, the way she had learned all mutant’s powers were, like a signature of theirs. A hand grabbing her arm and pulled.

When she opened her eyes again, she was looking at the ceiling of the tech lab in Skywalker Manor.Her breath was uneven as Luke helped her up, his breath a bit ragged too -- probably from the exertion of two teleportations in a row.

As Rey stood up her hands were still trembling, eyes wide as she noted every single stare in the room was on her.

“Did she just-” Poe finally muttered, breaking the silence.

“Resist Snoke’s command?” Leia continued, a triumphant smile fighting to appear on her face, “Yes, she did.”

“Wo-ho!” Finn shouted loud enough to make everybody jump. Suddenly all the tension was broken and Rey found herself enveloped in a sea of hugs and squeals.

“You scared the crap out of me!” Rose squeaked against her cheek, barely holding back tears.

Paige was clapping her hands in excitement, and Rey almost jumped out of her skin when Phasma lifted her in a hug, a triumphant grin on her face.

“You, my girl, are a badass!” the blonde affirmed proudly.

“Fuck off?” Poe asked in a laugh, “Best.Exit.Line.Ever.”

As Phasma finally put her down, Rey’s eyes found Leia’s. The woman seemed far too relieved to complain about the general lack of polite language.

The girl finally managed to disentangle herself from the group hug, without a word she handed Leia what she had salvaged, envelopes and the old picture.

Leia gave it a surprised look, and after a long moment she just nodded gratefully.

“I’ll take it from here,” she assured her, “we’ll talk about this tomorrow. Now get some rest. You deserve it.”

Rey agreed, offering her a hesitant smile. 

“See?” Armitage’s voice floated over the happy chaos to her. He was a couple of steps away, a wide smile on his face, “I told you that you could do it. I didn’t know how, but I knew it.”

Rey gave him an amused look but before she could answer the man lowered his voice, his meaningful glare pointing somewhere behind him as he tilted his head.

“Something tells me that you need to be somewhere else, now.”

Behind him, a few steps away, the imposing figure of Ben was standing still, an unmoving island in the sea of excitement. 

He was giving her a slightly confused and yet intense stare, like if he was both relieved to see her and yet completely scared for what might have happened to her. 

Ben swallowed nervously, his Adam’s apple bobbing his throat as his mouth struggled to find something to say.

The second Rey’s eyes met his, it was like the momentary jolt of adrenaline from the completion of the mission got drained away, crushed by the memories of what she saw in those files. 

All those years of suffering, torture and loss hit her in the guts, resonating with her own.

Ben, her only true friend, had lost so much, had been through so much and now he was there, in front of her, worried sick for her. 

She suddenly felt guilty. Guilty for his apprehension, for what she now knew despite his wish to tell her or lack thereof, and for not punching Snoke in the face when she got the chance.

Tears were stinging behind her eyes again. She bit her lower lip to stop its trembling.

He opened his mouth again, searching for something to say. His worried eyes taking in the sudden shift in her expression, but the girl didn’t give him the time.

The next second she was on him, her arms wrapping around his torso as her face nested into his shirt and the entire room suddenly fell silent at the display.

Rey barely registered the fact that the remainder of the academy was quietly existing the tech lab, as if everyone had suddenly remembered something important to do elsewhere.

The girl barely noticed Hux giving the others silent, discrete directions, and right now she couldn’t afford to care.

When Ben’s arms finally cradled her only the two of them were left in the room. 

“Hey,” he murmured against the crown of her head, “It’s okay now, you’re back…”

“He’s a monster,” she managed to whisper, between sobs, “Oh Ben, I’m so sorry, I-”

He stiffened, like some kind of revelation hit him despite his incapability to read her mind.

“You… You know, don’t you?” he almost whined, his voice have never sounded so weak.

She nodded against his chest, still sobbing.His breath become uneven really fast, the lights in the room started to flicker, a couple of tables started trembling as he remained perfectly still, almost paralized.

“You need to go away,” Ben muttered with a shaky breath. In that moment his hands set her free, retracting from her like she was on fire, “I-I’m a monster, Rey, you need to let me go.”

She gave him the most excruciating, sad look he’d ever seen.

 _No,_ It was a lie. Her look right now reminded him of that day, the day in which Leia had taken him in again, knowing exactly what he had done.

That realization hurt him even more. His eyes grew wetter while a couple of chairs started flipping in a loud thud.

To his surprise though something shifted in her expression. The sadness slowly turning into determination. If possible her embrace tightened around him even more, as if she was trying to hold him to the ground.

“No.” A single syllable was enough to tell him everything she wanted to say. 

_No_ , he wasn’t a monster to her.

 _No_ , she had no intention of letting him go.

“Rey-” he hesitated, a lump raging in his throat as he desperately searched for something to say. How could she not understand? How could she believe that he was worthy of her affection?

“No,” she repeated, with even more firmness. Simple as that, Ben didn’t know what else to say, his hands still in the air, fighting the need to touch her.

When he felt one of her small hands leave his side to reach for his face, gently stroking a tear away with the tip of her thumb while the rest of them settled on his cheek, he realized that any kind of resistance would have been futile.

Her hand was too warm and too soft, and was touching him with such a gentleness he found himself sighing in relief against her skin. His head tilted in a needy, involuntary search for more contact.

If he would have been in a more stable, serene state, he would have looked at himself in shame for how fast his resolution went out.

But he wasn’t. His chest was a bundle of pain, despair, sadness and now, surprisingly, hope, affection, almost adoration.

He didn’t even realized until it was too late that Rey’s gentle hand was keeping him still as she braced herself on her tiptoes, her face dangerously close to his.

Her breath caressed her mouth and he barely have the strength to react.

“Rey,” he murmured under his breath, his mouth struggling to not move forward to hers, “this is a bad idea…” _Christ,_ his voice was the least convincing thing in the universe right now.

Unexpectedly, the girl offered him a small, kind smile, her eyes lowering on his lips.

“No,” she repeated one last time. And then her mouth found his, hesitantly, tentatively, in a chaste exploration that was pointing out her obvious lack of experience but at the same time her iron resolve. 

Ben succumbed to her kiss for what it was. A pure, raw display of affection, of care. 

He didn’t try to deepen it when he finally found the guts to splay his huge hands around her waist. Even if there was no tongue or teeth involved, (probably Rey didn’t even know about that possibility) he couldn’t remember in his whole life a kiss as intense and Earth-shattering as this. 

His heart was still in his throat when, after a long moment of hesitation, Rey finally gave him a last slow peck and lowered herself back on her feet. She barely hid her wide grin which Ben suspected was mirroring his own.


	8. The More You Know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my beta SageMcMae is probably the most supportive, kind and patient individual in this dimension. Thank you so much dear!

That night Rey didn’t sleep for various reason, and it felt strange, she had to admit.

Even if, before Skywalker Manor, sleeping for her had been nothing more than a waste of time, she has soon realized that even a few hours per night were making her feel more balanced and generally healthier.

That night, despite her wishes, sleep never came. 

Her mind couldn’t stop thinking about the wall covered in photos in Snoke’s office, and about one photo in particular.

Despite Ben’s adorable, shy smile after they kissed, despite his gentle, hesitant hand on the small of her back while they walked back to their rooms, her mind was still there. Her thoughts were mixed up in a tangle of anguish and softness, relief and horror.

Her mind kept drifting between the soft, worried face of the Ben she’d come to know and the heartbreaking photos of his shaved head covered in electrodes.

A part of her just wanted to sneak in his room and cuddle against his side without a word. Since no object was trembling, falling, or flying around the room right now, Rey figured that Ben was probably sound asleep and she couldn’t find it in her heart to disturb him.

When the morning finally came she got up early, unable to stand her restlessness for the remaining awake hours in bed.

As she marched toward the main hall in the dim light of an early sun, she noticed the residents of the house were still asleep, except for one other person.

“Rey, dear,” Leia appeared to have been waiting for her, standing still in her elegant ivory robe at the end of the corridor, “we need to talk.”

They walked silently toward Leia’s office, where two cups of fuming coffee were waiting for them on her desk, the documents she managed to stole from Snoke neatly displayed on the other side of the table, photo included.

“Shall we get started?” the older woman asked gently, offering her a chair while she moved to the other side, grabbing her cup.

The girl nodded slightly, her eyes irreparably gluing on the picture right away.

“Do you know any of them?” Leia inquired.

“My grandfather,” Rey replied without a hint of hesitation.

“Old Ben?”

Rey’s eyes found hers urgently, in evident surprise.

“You knew?”

“I’ve suspected. But I didn’t mean to push you into this discussion until you were ready to talk.”

“You knew my grandpa?”

“Yes, dear,” Leia offered her a gentle, cautious smile, “I know him.”

 

The girl's eyes shot open, her voice trembling.

“Is he alive?”

“I heard from him a couple of months ago. He’s alive and well.”

Rey’s eyes started to get wet and her lips began to tremble. He was alive. Her family, her only living relative, the man who took care of her as a child was still alive. She couldn’t believe she could feel shame and relief all at once.

Since when she escaped from her grave in terror she had never allowed herself to think about him that much. After all, she was dead to him, how could she go back? How could Old Ben understand what happened to her?

In that precise moment, something clicked in her stream of thoughts and she almost forgot how to breathe. What if he could actually understand? What if…

“Is he one of us?” she blurred, holding back a sob.

“He is, my dear.” Leia acknowledged, landing her hand on Rey’s trembling shoulder. 

He was.

He would have understood.

She had lost everything, all her life for nothing. Just for fear.

It was all her fault.

In a moment Rey was on her feet, uneasy hands covering her mouth, tears invading her face as she had to force himself not to growl, to scream.

“Rey…” Leia hesitated, and that was it. Rey darted out the door without a word, fist clenching almost painfully, head low as she tried to stop her tears.

Halfway back to her room the girl realized that her attempts to calm down, at least for the sake of appearances, weren’t working at all. But after all, who cared? She didn’t deserve to look strong, because she simply wasn’t.

She was a stupid, idiotic moron, a child without a clue, a disaster in human form only capable of bringing misery to herself and others.

No one deserved what she did to herself, and even worse to Grandpa Ben. If only she had known…

Another loud sob tore her breath away a few steps away from her room, forcing her to lean against the near wall, her head in her hands.

Stupid powers. Would it have been that bad dying in the accident? At least things would have been less complicated for most people in her life if she actually had.

Stupid feelings. If it wasn’t for them she wouldn’t have been a pathetic mess right now. Refusing to feel, just like she had done for most of her life was so inviting now, and also totally impossible. The Pandora’s box was open now and the only thing the girl could do at this point was to deal with it, somehow.

To her surprise and shame, she soon realized what her aching heart was asking of her: she needed to feel better, despite she didn’t think she’d deserve it. 

Rey’s swollen eyes fell to a door a couple of steps away.

Before she could reason herself out of it, her bare feet were marching in the direction of Ben’s room.

The door was opened as gingerly as possible as her eyes explored the room. Ben was still asleep, snoring softly, his silky mop of messy black hair splayed on his pillow, his long limbs resting casually on the sheets while he laid on his back.

Her heart melts, taking in how peaceful he looks in his slumber. A part of her, now aching desperately after the latest revelation, wondered if she would ever have the right to look so serene. 

Of course, Rey knew perfectly well that Ben wasn’t actually a serene person, but her rational thinking wasn’t at its best. Her need for just a little, undeserved hint of peace was clearly too overwhelming for her to think straight. Her hands were aching to do something, somehow desperate for touch, for some kind of consolation to the burning pain in her heart.

Her eyes were still wet when she finally found the courage to lay beside him, as cautiously as possible, finding the perfect spot to nest between his outstretched, relaxed arm and his torso. Without a second thought, her head landed on his shoulder, her arms finding her place along his side. 

His warmth and his even breath should have calmed her, should have her feel safe, but it did quite the opposite. In a second Rey found herself sobbing again, overwhelmed, her face hiding against his old tee-shirt.

She didn’t deserve this. She was only capable of bringing pain and suffering in her life and to the lives of those around her. Ben had been through so much already. He deserved better, he deserved to be happy. He didn’t deserve a silly girl sneaking in his room while he slept to damp his shirt with eight years of overdue tears.

Internally, Rey cursed herself. She needed to go, she needed to leave Ben alone. This was nonsense.

She was fighting against herself when a warm, large hand landed on her shoulder, cradling her as a sleepy, confused hum announced what, at this point, she feared most,: Ben waking up.

“Hey…” Ben’s voice was hoarse, thick with sleep and yet soft, and calm, like finding her in his bed was normal, like she was exactly where she belonged.

“Hey,” she almost cried back, her hands running to her face in a desperate attempt to wipe away tears from her swollen eyes.

“What’s wrong?” The man asked almost immediately, his sleepy voice full of concern as he stirred, his large arm encircling her cautiously.

Rey bit her lip, taking a shaky breath. The feeling of his arm cradling her, gently pushing her in a warm hug gave her a sense of relief she found herself giving into almost immediately. Her much smaller hand found her way around his abdomen, her head nesting in the crook of his neck with a distressed mewl she struggled to hold back.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she admitted in a murmur against his neck, her voice still hoarse from crying, “Can I stay here for a little bit?”

Ben shifted in his bed, his large form accommodating on his side to face her. As one of his massive hands found his way into her hair, massaging it with cautious touches, Rey closed her eyes, taking in with undeniable rapture the stroking was giving her. 

“You can stay as long as you want,” Ben whispered against the crown of her head, his full lips barely touching her skin there.

Something in his voice, still hoarse from sleeping, in the warmth of his arms around her, in his breath against her hair, in his scent, so distinctively his, was slowly melting the desperation tormenting her. Not deleting it, of course, just numbing the consequences of it. It was like somehow she could feel that she was entitled to her distress, and maybe even to some comfort after all. But even if she wasn’t, there was no chance of her leaving her cocoon of relief right now, it was far too addictive.

“Thank you,” Rey found herself saying against his neck. He responded by gently stroking one of his giant hands along her back, making her feel incredibly lucky for the first time in her life.

Well, not just that. As she kept calming down, another sensation slowly crawled under her skin, replacing her distress. A relatively new one, that Rey has come quite acquainted with in the last few days, exclusively when Ben was around. 

His hands on her, no matter how chaste and caring his touch was right now, were triggering something tempting, needy and warm into her lower belly.   
In all of those pamphlets, Paige gave Rey there was a lot of polite, technical description of how, when and why her body might react like this, but what they forgot to explain was how hard it felt to actually hide or deny those kinds of feelings. 

None of the pamphlets went into detail about how hard was to not kiss that smooth neck only a breath away. The handouts didn’t discuss how challenging it was to not push herself against him, searching for some friction she didn’t know she needed but that seemed like an excellent idea right now.

The more she gave in to those feelings, the more the soreness of her heart kept numbing. Rey found herself chasing what was growing inside of her, finding it harder and harder to resist the need to kiss the soft skin of his neck right in front of her mouth.

In another situation, in which she might have been a little more serene, a little less emotional, she probably would have thought about it over and over in her head before even considering to give in. 

This time Rey didn’t. Slowly, carefully, her lips were landing on his neck, pushing the gentlest, shyest amount of pressure on his skin.

Ben didn’t seem to react at first, maybe he thought that it was a mistake, that she accidentally landed her lips on him trying to snuggle for more warmth. But when she cautiously repeated her soft gesture, his hand slowed down, caressing her back more gingerly, like if he was evaluating what to do. It took him a few seconds and another small peck to his neck to actually react, brushing his lips lightly across her temple.

When her fourth kiss came, this time finding its rightful spot at the edge of the angular line of his jaw, his breath, slightly itchy, heated up her cheekbone while he ended up waiting again.

Not matter how hulking he might look on the outside, Ben sounded as vulnerable as a kitten when her lips found the corner of his mouth. The kiss was as delicate as a feather, and he barely held back a low delicate mewl.

His full lips kissed the corner of her mouth in return, in a slow, hesitant retaliation as his massive hand splayed on the small of her back.

Rey’s stomach clenched in nervous delight as her hand finally snaked up his chest to find his cheek. She took her time, her fingertips brushing tentatively against him before applying a gentle push and move his mouth right above hers. 

His breath shook against her mouth but after a second, his lips were barely parting, contracting just enough to catch hers. 

If their first kiss had been a statement, a declaration of affection, this was something entirely different. It was another way to know each other, to bond, to explore.

Rey reciprocated with faint, languid touches, tilting her head as every contact seemed to become deeper and last longer than the previous one.

She found almost causally the tip of Ben’s tongue at the seam of her lips, but the presence didn’t bother her at all, quite the opposite.

Not that she knew exactly what to do with it, but well, she had every intention of figuring it out. 

As her smaller tongue caressed his, expectantly, an accidental moan formed down in Ben’s throat, softly reverberating against her lips as his mouth searched for hers with new, far less cautious determination. 

She could feel his nostril flare against her cheek, his breath hitching, his hand nesting against the nape of her neck as his whole body seemed to melt against hers, cradling her even closer to him.

Come to think of it, Rey realized that, pretty obviously, no pamphlet could have prepared her for how amazing this felt. No pamphlet would have told her how to move her tongue, or that keeping her hips against him was actually some kind of delicious challenge at this point. 

It all felt so new, and yet so incredibly right. Any kind of worry or apprehension in her brain melted away rapidly, letting a far more primal, brave part of her take the lead. 

And oh, was that part of her bolder. Until that moment, her legs had remained respectfully closed, but now, her knee has found its place on top of his leg, and was now, very slowly, climbing his thigh, ready to circle his hip in seconds.

There was something almost predatory in the way Rey’s brain was thinking right now. Somehow, despite her evident lack of experience, her body knew exactly what she wanted, and trying to get it seemed the most natural, obvious consequence.

The first, experimental thrust of her slender hips against his taught her what she needed to know in second. The delightful friction made her breath hitch, and the sudden feeling of Ben’s erection against her navel made her shiver, her arousal building to an unprecedented level, stealing a small, pleased mewl from her lips.

This felt so perfect, exactly how it was supposed to feel, if not better, at least until Ben seemed to struggle for air, his whole body stiffening in nervous surprise against hers.

To his defense, moving away, even if slightly, from her lips, looked like one of the hardest things he has ever done. 

“Rey…” She have never heard his voice being so low, or so husky, the mere sound of it made her want to thrust against him again, and again, “I-I think we should stop.”

It sounded as though merely pronouncing those words was giving him heartache. His hands remained perfectly still, cradling her head.

“Why?” The girl found herself asking, her voice almost a shameless whine.

“We’re going too fast, I’m afraid,” he admitted against her lips, his words came out reluctantly, like he was actually struggling to pronounce them, “you’re upset and… I don’t want to take advantage of that.”

Even if his words came out cautiously, something in what Ben said made Rey jolt. 

Her leg retreated from his hip almost instantly. Her face moved away from his just enough to look him comfortably in the eye. 

Rey couldn’t help it. His words felt incredibly like rejection, but it wasn’t just that.

“Do you think that I can’t make my own decisions?” She asked in a sharp breath, her eyes pounding into his.

That question must have shaken him, because he stared at her in surprise, his full, slightly swollen lips trembling as he evidently struggled to find the right thing to say.

“I’ve never said that you can’t, I was just-” 

“You clearly implied that like a second ago.” Rey pointed out, her body disentangling from his a little bit more forcefully than necessary.

“No, I didn’t,” He explained, raising himself up on his elbows to look at her, studying the bothered expression slowly appearing on her face. 

Rey felt as though the blood that had rushed into her lower belly was now unleashing its hot wrath around her stomach, making it flip.

“Then why are you treating me like a child?” the question ran out of her lips far more harshly than she expected, as she sat up.

“Hey, I’m not treating you like a child! I just-” his words were interrupted by a frustrated sigh “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

Rey has never felt so compelled to laugh and get mad at the same time. Fortunately, or at least she hoped this was fortunate, her first instinct prevailed. A not particularly graceful and yet unequivocally real laugh erupted from her lips, melting the nervous knot in her belly. She tried to cover her mouth with one hand, but that didn’t help her, she didn’t know how to stop.

“What?” Ben asked gingerly after a second, frowning at her.

“You do realize that I literally can’t die, right?” she pointed out with a half smile.

The man rolled his dark eyes, barely holding back a shy smirk.

“That doesn’t mean you can’t get hurt.” 

“True, but that doesn’t mean that you’re going to hurt me either,” she suggested, lowering her head slightly “and even if you will, I think I’m old enough to decide for myself.”

“I know, I know that,” The man admitted, lowering his gaze, “I-I just want you to be safe, and happy.”

Rey raised her eyebrows, giving him a perplexed look while her smaller hands searched for his, ever so cautiously.

“Did it look like I was unhappy while we were kissing?” she asked.

Ben swallowed nervously, his dark eyes running back and forth from her face to their joined hands.

“No.”

“See?” the girl offered him a gentle smile, her fingers intertwining with his “you’ve nothing to worry about.”

It took him a few long moments to take his decision. He swallowed thickly, his jaw working in what looked like quite a struggle from the outside. His fingers were absently caressing hers, his dark eyes locked on that particular sight like it meant everything.

After what felt like an eternity, his much bigger hand pulled hers gently.

“Come here.” he blurred out, almost casually.

Rey gave him possibly the most beaming smile in history, and in less than a second she was on his lap, her harms clinging to his neck and her still smiling lips searching for his.


	9. In Time of Need

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I'm late. Let's just say that this chapter has been pretty challenging to write and it's been a pretty busy couple of weeks.
> 
> Anyway, this is going to be quite intense, I hope you like it. I'll wait a couple of days to add some tags and characters because this chapter and the next will have a lot of plot twists and I want you to enjoy them spoiler-free ;)
> 
> An amazing and grateful thank you to SageMcMae for being the lovely friend and adorable beta that she is <3

Paige Tico had always considered herself perfectly in touch with her emotions. 

 

To be fair, considering her quite peculiar gift, understanding the complex language of human feelings had always been easier than verbal language to her. Nevertheless, she deemed herself a hopeless romantic.

 

Considering her power, this wasn’t obvious. An individual with such a wide comprehension, and the capacity of reading and even influence anybody’s feelings, someone could have easily become some kind of heartless cynical, an excellent manipulator, a cruel opportunist, but not Paige. Paige was in love with love. 

 

Well, maybe her teenage years explained why it was better to focus on positive feelings, due to her gift. She could still remember the day she fought with Poe over a girl they both liked, and how all the inhabitants of the Skywalker Manor ended up crying in rage and frustration for hours. 

 

After that particular episode, Paige Tico learned two things. First, never get interested in a straight girl, no matter how much confused sexual energy she could emanate, and second, always be in control of your feelings, especially the bad ones. 

 

When she was older, she thankfully realized how lucky she was. She was surrounded by people who cared for each other, and no matter how unconventional their weird mutant family could be, they were together. They watched each other backs and they would have always been there for one another.

 

Love was indeed an amazing thing.

 

Except when it kept emanating from a very specific room upstairs in quite intrusive, overwhelming and definitely horny way.    
  
It was becoming quite awkward, to be honest.    
  
It was good for Ben of course. After all, he had been through he really deserved to feel something different from his standard sadness, guilt, and despair but… _ Holy shit!  _ __   
  
It wasn’t even lunchtime yet and those two had spent hours in Ben’s room making out or whatever.    
  
They probably weren’t there yet. Feeling someone have sex nearby was usually overwhelming and confusing. It reminded Paige of her experiences in college, when the majority of her neighbors had been promiscuous. She tried again to focus on her book, still sitting on the couch in the main hall.

 

“Are you sure you don’t remember anything about this?” Paige was startled by the sudden sound of Leia’s voice coming from the hallway and a pair of footsteps. 

 

As the older woman and Armitage entered the room Paige froze into place, hoping desperately that the situation in Ben’s room would remain under control. If not, she’d probably be blushed helplessly in front of his mom. The perspective made her whine.

 

Hux, beside Leia, was holding what looked like a dossier. 

 

The red-haired man shook his head as they entered the main hall. 

 

“Never heard of Project R.E.N.” He admitted, his eyes glued on the file, “It must be something only Snoke worked on. Hey Paige,” he greeted her, without lifting his eyes.

 

“What’s R.E.N.?” the young doctor asked, furrowing her brow.

 

“We’re trying to find out,” Leia admitted flatly, walking toward her couch, “It recurs often in the files Rey managed to get from Snoke, and yet nothing is explained here. It only says if people on these files suitable for the project or not.”

 

Paige looked even more perplexed.

 

“And who is supposed to be suitable for this thing?”   
  
“Only Ben, apparently,” Leia replied in an irritated wince, “at least among us. After all Rey only had a few minutes. She only took the files of people she knows.”

 

Paige was about to nod when a wave of that unsettling horny feeling reached for her again from upstairs. She barely fought back the sharp intake of a breath, feeling her cheeks grow hot. 

 

At the same exact moment, probably for very similar reasons, something like an embarrassed squeak got stuck in Hux’s throat, emerging like some weird, panicked grunt while his pale, freckled face turned into an uncomfortable shade of bright pink.

 

Paige felt his embarrassment right away. She knew how Armitage’s powers worked, so it what pretty obvious he was having an unrequested and vivid vision of what was transpiring upstairs. 

 

Right away the young doctor noticed something different, coming from Leia, this time. Perplexity.

 

“Are you two alright?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.

 

“Yes. Perfect, thank you,” Paige stuttered awkwardly, and Hux followed her lead with an overly enthusiastic nod.

 

“Are you sure?” Leia insisted “you two look like you’re about to choke or something.”   
  
“Yeah, yeah, we’re-” Paige’s stare moved instantly from Leia to Hux, surprised by his sudden shift in what he was feeling. In a second his emotions had gone from a whirlwind of embarrassment and unease to a black hole of fear and disbelief. It radiated through him in waves of pure terror. The young doctor found her hands shaking just like the red-haired man’s, their breath getting short in tandem. “Armitage what-,” the woman struggled to speak, her voice broken by his panic, “what’s going on?”

 

“I can’t see…” Hux hissed in terror, his pale bony hands running to his face “I can’t see anything. No futures, none of them. It’s  _ him _ . Something is about to happen.”

 

Leia grew still, her eyes widening. After a brief second her demeanor changed, shifting in a firmer, more determined one.

 

“Paige, warn everyone. Urgency, alert, but not panic, understood?” the older woman asked?”

 

The doctor nodded nervously, taking a deep breath. She closed her eyes, her power starting to emanate from her in waves. In seconds the feeling she was sending would hit everybody in the house. 

 

When Paige opened her eyes again only moments later, the distinct sound of helicopters approaching made her mouth go slack as she jumped on her feet.

  
  


***   
  
Taking it slow. Rey could totally do that, even if she was acutely aware her instincts were demanding she rip Ben’s clothes. She wanted to take him right now without a second thought, claiming her pleasure like an animal and howling at the moon while doing so. She was barely managing to keep herself calm enough not to scare Ben or trigger his fear of hurting her.

 

She was straddling his lap, her body incredibly warm and undoubtedly aware of the presence of the bulge in his pants as it rubbed against her core through their clothes. At some point, Rey managed to sneak her hands under his shirt without much of a complaint from him, but to be fair, the man didn’t seem in the mood for complaining at all. 

 

For the last hour, his mouth kept assaulting hers in earnest, occasionally moving to her chin, her neck or her collarbone but no further down. At least for now.

 

His huge hands seemed restless, moving from the small of her back to her thighs. It took him almost half an hour, but apparently, at some point, he managed to gather the courage to land his large palm on one of her buttcheeks. He gave the soft flesh an experimental squeeze that made her squeal in delight against his mouth.

 

“Was that too much?” he managed to mutter between kisses.

 

“Ben…” His name came out of her swollen mouth like a firm warning.

 

“Sorry, sorry,” he pointed out almost instantly, leaving an apologetic trail of pecks on her jaw, “just checking.”

 

Rey’s satisfied hum at his clarification seemed to encourage him because the pecks rapidly turned into something far less innocent. He started nibbling softly at the skin of her neck while her hands kept exploring the hard planes of his chest.

 

At some point though, something stopped her searching fingers. The small, pleased mewls that his neck ministrations were generating turned into a soft, delighted giggle.

 

Ben moved away slightly, his brow furrowing with a hint of disappointment while searching her face. She was giving him an amused look, her lips granting him a tiny peck before she murmured.

 

“Ben, you’re doing it again.”   
  
He swallowed, glancing beneath them, finally noticing they were floating at least three feet above the bed. 

 

The man barely held back an embarrassed snort. It was the third time in the last hour, this had happened. At this point, it was quite obvious the involuntary use of his powers was basically an unconscious metaphor for a whole different kind of  _ elevation. _

 

“Sorry.” He murmured, leaving a small peck on her lips. As he focused to solve the problem, trying to land them as gently as possible back on the bed, his expression shifted unexpectedly to an evidently concerned one. He turned his head toward the door.

 

“Is everything alright?” Rey asked, furrowing her brow.

 

“No,” Ben admitted clenching his jaw, “there’s something wrong. Paige is sending some sort of distress signal. Can’t you feel it?”

 

The girl in his lap shook her head, clearly perplexed.

 

The man raised on his elbows, his face now openly concerned.

 

“We should go,” he suggested quite firmly.

 

“ _ Ben. _ ” An unprecedented urgency in Rey’s voice demanded his attention. His eyes followed her finger to where it was pointing out the window.

 

Two helicopters were into view, two Apache helicopters to be precise. The abundance of noise suggested there were probably more. On the ground, a couple of military trucks were approaching fast.    
  
“What the…”    
  
In no time they were on their feet, their fast steps hitting the staircase to the main hall without a word.

 

All of the inhabitants of the house were gathered there, Rose already fumbling with her laptop, checking on the cameras around the property.

 

“Three helicopters,” she announced,“and four vehicles. At least ten soldiers for each.”   
  
“Where’s Luke?” Ben asked instantly, looking around.

 

“He’s taking care of Protocol Phoenix,” his mother replied before asking  Rose, “How much time do we have?” 

 

“Less than three minutes.” The younger woman replied.

 

Despite the obvious panic in the room, Leia appeared incredibly composed, almost at ease. 

 

“Very well. No panic,” She stated firmly, addressing everyone in the room. “We need to buy Luke enough time, this means we have to fight. We can assume Snoke is behind the attack, and this means that he’s here for Ben. No matter what happens, I need one of you to be at his side at all times. Rey, can I count on you?” Rey found herself nodding, still vaguely stunned by the sudden peril “Excellent.” Leia continued “Armitage, Phasma, go to my office, arm yourself. Finn, Paige, Poe, and Rose. You know what to do. No matter where the fight leads you, I want you all back here in five minutes.”

 

Everyone in the room started moving, obviously already knowing exactly what to do. Rey turned her head toward Ben, but before she had the time ask anything a loud  _ boom  _ hit the roof of the house. The intolerable heat wave of a huge explosion sent them all against the remaining walls.

 

“Fuck,” Rey heard Phasma hiss. As she struggled to get back on her feet as fast as she could, she felt the distinct ache of glass shards being rejected from her arm by her healing factor. 

 

Her eyes landed immediately on Ben. He was on his knees, his face still in his concentration as a couple of glass pieces remained stuck in mid-air only a few inches from his face. 

 

“Ben!” Rose’s voice shouted, a few meters away. She was on her feet too, luckily only affected by the considerable amount of dust covering her. “I need to be closer to those helicopters, and I need cover. Can you do that?” 

 

The man nodded, the debris in front of him falling carelessly to the floor.

 

“Poe!” he called firmly. “Cover.”   
  
The other man moved instantly beside him, his lighter tight in his grasp. 

 

As the others gathered behind Leia (who was totally unaffected by the explosion), Paige managed to shout above the noise, holding a hand firmly over her bloody left thigh. 

 

“Thirty are about to enter by the main door. Ten are coming through the roof. They feel numb, controlled by Snoke for sure,” she declared as Armitage circled an arm around her waist to support her.

 

Rey’s focus was stuck on Ben. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes, and in a second she could almost feel the strength of the energy emanating from him. His big hand outstretched in Rose’s direction, and then the young woman was floating in mid-air, ascending fast toward the breach on the roof.

 

After a second something heavy was bashing against the main door until the hinges started to screech.

 

“Finn, with me,” Leia commanded, firmly gripping her walking stick.

 

Rey watched them when something which sounded like the propellers of the first Helicopter got her attention. As Ben kept Rose floating almost ten feet above the ground, the youngest Tico sister was pointing both her hands at the aircraft. A desperate growl of exertion escaped her clenched teeth as her power commanded the engine to stop working.

 

Back on the ground, the main door crashed open and two rows of armed soldiers found themselves caught between Leia’s blows and Finn’s incredibly fast punches. He moved between them swiftly enough to make himself barely visible.

 

As some of the soldiers managed to march forward, Rey found at least ten assault rifles aiming at her and her allies. 

 

Immediately, Armitage dragged a wounded Paige behind Ben and Poe. Despite her blood loss, she managed to point her hand out towards three of their attackers.

 

“Pain,” she hissed between gritted teeth, staring at them. Instantly, the three soldiers were on the ground, their bodies contorting in agony.

 

Meanwhile,  the malfunctioning helicopter fell in a loud  _ crash  _ making the earth tremble beneath their feet. Ben dragged Rose beside them as Poe started throwing flames at a few incoming soldiers. 

 

Rey’s fists ached for the fight, but as soon as another squad of enemies came closer, one of them threw an incredibly strong punch at one of his comrades, making the second man fall senseless to the ground. 

 

“Oh, excuse me, asshole,” the soldier exclaimed, gaining a few alarmed stares by the others. While he landed another couple of merciless blows incapacitating them, his appearance shifted, revealing the smug smile of Phasma. The blonde landed a violent kick right into a soldier’s jaw.

 

Despite the overwhelming amount of bullets raining down around none of them were impacted.    
  
Phasma managed to shield herself with the body of one of the soldiers she was fighting with, Ben was stopping a majority of them in mid-air while some of the rifles simply stopped working thanks to Rose.

 

Rey was stiff in her defensive stance when she heard something that got her attention. 

 

_ Shit. The minions on the roof. _

 

In an instant, she turned to see at least ten assault rifles, safety off, pointing at them. Ben would have been ok, probably Rose too, but Paige and Armitage were in the direct line of fire.

 

“Watch out!” Rey found herself screaming, and in the next second, she was on them, dragging them down while shielding them with her body.

 

She felt the brutal, violent intrusion of the bullets hitting her ribcage, digging their way into her flesh, stealing a loud growl from her collapsed lungs, but she wasn’t the only one screaming. 

 

Paige got hit too, blood dripping on the floor from a bullet wound on her shoulder. 

All the pain she was feeling seemed to radiate from her in a merciless wave, hitting everyone in the room as if it was their own. 

 

Even Rey managed to feel it. The searing pain made it hard to breathe as it coupled with the unpleasant feeling of her regeneration. Luckily her power took a hold over the effect in seconds, but she realized right away that something was incredibly wrong. Everyone was on the ground, contorting in pain, friends, and foes all the same.

 

Even Ben was screaming at the top of his lungs, his hands spasming and his back arching. 

 

She tried to call him, but before her voice could reach him the most unexpected thing happened. 

 

A wave of raw power emanated directly from him. Ben stood up, every muscle taut and pulsing as his feet left the ground.

 

The overwhelming pain must have triggered something in him because his face was expressionless, his pupils blown as he raised his hands toward the room. 

 

The consequences of what appeared like a simple gesture struck in the most devastating way. 

 

It felt like if Ben’s power had decided to take the lead. Probably as some kind of instinctual response to the pain, it was trying to dismantle everything in the room. 

 

The soldiers in front of him started floating in mid-air, literally disintegrating before Rey’s astonished gaze.

 

Then her whole body started to feel as though it was about to rip apart. All the air was expelled from her lungs as an invisible squeeze made her bones crack. Her eyes struggled to focus on what was happening around her. She noticed she wasn’t the only one affected by this. 

 

Now Ben’s imposing figure was hovering a few steps from her, his breathing heavy as violent bursts of energy kept hitting every life form present in the room.

 

“Rey!” Armitage’s voice pleaded behind her in a suffering grunt “Stop him, you know what to do!”

 

“I don’t!” she admitted in a panicked sob, struggling to get on her feet.

 

“Then we’re all going to die. It’s up to you,” Hux managed to whisper before passing out, blood dripping from his nose.

 

Rey’s eyes scanned those around her. Most of her friends were barely conscious, some of them writhed in agony on the floor, others were as still as stone, merely fighting to keep breathing, red-rimmed eyes, blood staining their mouths, ears and noses. 

 

The girl who couldn’t die fought to remain standing, the ripples of Ben’s energy slamming mercilessly to keep her down. Marching towards him felt like walking through acid. The air was thick and burned above her skin as she forced herself to move forward. 

 

It took her what felt like an eternity to reach him. Just as she did, she recognized his reaction to be a more dangerous version of what happened during Ben’s nightmare. Even before they had become close, she had known how to help him. 

 

All of a sudden, Rey knew exactly what to do. No matter how rough or unpleasant Ben’s power felt as it shoved her away, she gathered all her remaining strength to jump high enough to reach him.

 

Rey managed to reach for his face, her hands clawing desperately at his shoulders in an attempt to anchor herself to him. 

 

With what could very well be her last breath, Rey’s lips brushed against his ear, her eyes full of tears as she fought against the overwhelming ache running through her.

 

“Please, Ben, wake up,” she pleaded, her voice hoarse as her spasming fingers landed in his hair. She stroked it as gently as the pain allowed her, “Please, it’s alright. I’ve got you. You’re not alone in this.”

 

Her face landed on his shoulder as loud, sorrowful sobs started pouring from her chest, tears flooding down her cheeks, but her fingers remained in his hair.

 

Maybe this was the future Hux told her about. Maybe this was the only future in which she was destined to die. No gunshot or wound had ever felt so terrible or final. 

 

No matter if Ben’s power dismantled her being, turning her into nothing but a pile of meaningless molecules, she couldn’t be mad at him for this. The only thing she could think about was the fact she was about to die with Ben in her arms. Her last action on this Earth would be stroking his air. There were certainly worst ways to go. The thought of not existing anymore, not having arms to hold him, or lips to kiss him was heartbreaking.

 

In a last-ditch effort, as Rey could basically feel his untamed power ripping through her flesh and bones, her bloodshot eyes landed on his unconscious face as she raised her head.

 

There was one last thing she wanted to do while she still had lips. 

 

Her mouth moved to his, her breath leaving her lungs for good.

 

“It’s alright.” If these were her last words, she wanted them to be meaningful and true. There was no resentment in her tone, only forgiveness. “It’s alright, Ben. I’m here.”

 

With what was left of her dying strength, her lips found his in a kiss which was pure, sweet, loving despair. It was both a farewell and a token of undying affection. Rey could feel her life abandoning her. Then the anguish stopped.

 

As the pain receded, the first thing she felt was Ben’s warm, large hand landing on the small of her back. He held onto her as if his life depended on it. His mouth opened against hers in the sharpest intake of a breath she ever heard, like he was remembering how to breathe.    
  
They landed on the ground, Ben falling gracelessly on his knees while cradling Rey against him. The waves of his power cased, resulting in a series of relieved, weak sounds from the people around them.

 

“Rey.” His eyes were wet and perfectly focused as they met hers. “Rey! Please, please, please.” Every word was a desperate sob as his fingers reached hesitantly for her face trying unsuccessfully to stop the blood dripping from her nose and mouth. “Please, please, I’m sorry,”

 

Shaking arms Rey allowed herself to breathe again, savoring the air in her lungs like a deserved gift. 

 

“You’re back,” she hummed, a little, weak smile fighting to appear on her lips. Some of the bruises on her skin started disappearing ever so slowly.

 

“I-I’m sorry.” Ben insisted, his voice broken. He couldn't say anything else to her.  Luckily their allies were slowly starting to rise on their feet again.    
  
Ben barely had time to notice Leia’s hand on his shoulder when an intense violet light burst into the room. There was a loud roar, like a thunder, resonating in the air followed by an unexpected rush of wind.

 

As they all turned their eyes to the source of the light, they found something only a few of them could understand.    
  
On the side of the devastated room, was a rift in reality, a window to another place. The edges of the rift were plasma like an overload of pure energy keeping the two separate places bound together. A tiny woman in her late seventies wearing a long burgundy coat was looking at them with a determined yet peaceful expression. Her long white hair was flowing over her shoulder in a complicated braid.

 

“What’s happening?” Rey muttered, too exhausted to take a proper look at the scene.

 

“Protocol Phoenix,” Leia replied before Ben could, an exhausted grin appearing on her face as she moved toward the portal offering an affectionate kiss on the older woman’s cheek. ”Hello, mom. Thanks for coming.”   
  


The older woman replied with a warm smile, her bony and yet graceful hand caressing Leia’s cheek.

 

“Anytime, honey. But now we have to go, there’s no time to waste.” 

**Author's Note:**

> As always my thanks go to the most fluffy frog in the world, my beloved beta Wilde-World.
> 
> Kudos are love, but comments are life!
> 
> Feel free to comment, and leave suggestions and theories.
> 
> Who is going to appear next?
> 
> Which powers will show up? 
> 
> Let me know what you think!
> 
> And also feel free to check out my Tumblr for more Reylo content :)  
> https://spiegatrixlestrange.tumblr.com/


End file.
